Kintsugi
by BackslashEcho
Summary: At the age of five, Midoriya Izuku's dreams of becoming the next Symbol Of Peace were shattered. But as he swept up the scattered pieces, it occurred to him that there were plenty of heroes who didn't have amazing superpowers. And, just maybe, his dream of being a Hero can be salvaged, and made all the more beautiful for having been broken.
1. Broken Dreams: Origin

**A/N: If you'd like to chat, please pop into my Discord server at discord dot gg slash ABfg74C**

 **If you enjoy my work, check out my tumblr at the same screenname.**

* * *

Broken Dreams: Origin

Midoriya Izuku remembers, he was four years old when his dreams first shattered.

He's always had a good memory; not quite eidetic, but it never took him more than a minute to remember which journal a particular pro was listed in. He's also always been good at remembering certain things said to him, like soundbites, like playing an MP3 track.

 _"Sorry, kid, it's not gonna happen."_

 _"I'm sorry, Izuku. I wish things were different."_

 _"Your name oughta read 'Deku', it suits you better, 'cause you're useless!"_

And the whispers that followed him everywhere, poorly hidden behind people's hands, _"Quirkless…"_

A good memory is not always a gift.

There seemed to be an unofficial rule in most hero courses to not accept Quirkless students. You could still enter General Studies, of course, or Business or Support, but Heroics was for people with quirks. Preferably powerful quirks, like Kacchan's, as so many peers and teachers seemed quick to remind everyone.

And the strongest of all, of course, was All Might.

Izuku's memory didn't even need a minute to recall most of the known facts about the Symbol of Peace. His debut thirty years ago precipitated an 85% drop in daily villain activity all over Japan. Plenty of the smarter villains just outright quit, because All Might was a factor you could never properly plan around — he could be anywhere, basically anytime, and was equally happy stopping convenience store robberies as bank heists. To Izuku, though, he'd always represented something more; something that he'd internalized growing up, reinforced by his mother using All Might to impart moral lessons, to the point that the idea of saving people with a smile, no matter the odds or the cost, was simply an indelible component of who 'Midoriya Izuku' was.

This didn't always make for the easiest childhood, especially around his cradle friend, Bakugou Katsuki — Kacchan. Izuku knew that Kacchan was also a fan of All Might, but Izuku always thought he focused on the wrong things. Kacchan loved All Might because he was the strongest, but Izuku always thought that All Might's kindness would lead him to be a hero even without that power.

If All Might was Quirkless, surely, he would still do his best to save people. Right?

 _"Haaah!? All Might? Quirkless? There's no way someone that cool would be like you, Deku!"_

* * *

Izuku was six the first time he ran across Kacchan and his gang bullying another kid. Itou-kun wasn't quirkless, but the ability to change the color of his eyes and his hair didn't seem to impress the bullies.

"That's enough, Kacchan! You already made him cry, so back off!"

Nobody present seemed to know what to make of Izuku planting himself between Itou-kun and Bakugou, eyes watering and knees trembling, but jaw set and shaking fists raised.

"I won't let you hurt him anymore!"

Kacchan smiled, which in Izuku's opinion was always worse than his glares. "So, Deku, the quirkless wonder, thinks he can play hero, huh?" He punched a fist into his other hand, sparking an explosion, even as Tsubasa-kun spread his wings and Oshiro-kun stretched his fingers.

Izuku wasn't much for hitting back, he mostly tried to block Kacchan's and Tsubasa-kun's punches while wriggling away from Oshiro-kun's grasp, but eventually those long fingers caught hold of him and the blows started to land on his chest and face instead of his arms. He didn't move, though, and even as he sat in the nurse's office later with an ice pack over his swollen lip, he couldn't help but smile.

"I, um. Thanks," Itou-kun mumbled, later that day. "But um. If I hang around you I'm gonna keep drawing their attention." His hair flashed red with embarrassment, before settling back down to an unobtrusive mousy color. "I don't wanna get beaten up, y'know?"

"Ah…" Was all Izuku could think to say in response. Well. It would have been nice to have someone at his side, but he hadn't done it to make friends with Itou-kun, and he would do it all over again even if he knew this was the outcome. That was what a hero did. There was only one thing he could really do now.

He smiled even wider at Itou-kun, and if he pretended that his eyes were just watering because it stretched his swollen lip, who was to know any better?

* * *

Izuku was nearing his seventh birthday when he started doing serious research into heroes without flashy, destructive quirks. His dream of being a national symbol like All Might may be broken, but there were all kinds of heroes out there, and being a symbol for just a prefecture or town would be okay, as long as he could help people with a smile.

Wherever he went, he looked for little ways he could help, even if it was just picking up litter at the park, or helping an old lady cross the road, or picking up the groceries for his mom. He liked to help out at home, too, as much as he could, so his mother let him clean the lower half of the apartment, wherever his arms could reach. She also let him help her bake, or cook dinner sometimes, but she made him promise not to try to use the knives or the oven until he was older and she said it was okay. Izuku took his promises very seriously.

On days when he couldn't find anybody to help, he would sit in the library and look up more heroes. There were new heroes debuting all the time, and the classics never lost their luster if you asked him. Being a hero was about helping people, not all about fighting, whatever Kacchan thought.

There was the Turbo Hero, Ingenium, up in Tokyo; his Engine quirk let him run very quickly, and could be used to boost his jumping and punching abilities, but he admitted in interviews that he was otherwise only as strong as a regular human. He wore armour to protect himself, just like anyone else without super-toughness would do.

There was also the Space Hero, Thirteen, who admittedly _did_ have a powerful quirk, but they were best known for rescue operations rather than combat. Their Black Hole quirk was sometimes used for getting rid of rubble or debris, but they usually coordinated with firefighters and other rescue workers. They were also a well-known Quirkless advocate, which Izuku appreciated even if he thought it was a bit unfair to treat Quirkless people the same way as people with actual disabilities.

Other rescue-focused heroes like the Wild Wild Pussycats in Nagano Prefecture were on record as having quirks like Telepathy and Search — both undeniably useful in their mountain rescue operations, but their combat strength was all their own.

And, right here in Musutafu, there were rumors of a new underground hero that nobody had gotten a good picture of, yet. They supposedly had wild, tangled hair, and wore a black tracksuit and a white scarf that acted as some kind of capture weapon. There were no good descriptions of their face, to the point that nobody was sure if it was a man or a woman or if they were even real, but Izuku had heard that some of the criminals and villains he'd caught complain that their quirks had suddenly stopped working before they were captured. Izuku thought he'd spotted the hero once or twice, which led to a habit of peering down alleyways and watching the gaps between rooftops carefully.

 _"Haaah!? You lookin' fer some kinda cryptid here in the back alleys, Deku? Yer gonna get caught by some villain back here, stupid! Hold him still, I'm gonna teach him not to do stupid shit like this!"_

* * *

Izuku was nine and out combing through parks, looking for old Yamamoto-san's lost cat, when he made a friend for the first time since he was four.

"Akio!" he called, glancing up at the branches overhead in case the cat was chasing birds. "Here, kitty!"

He heard a rasping miaow that he recognized as Akio's, and he rushed around the corner to find the mangy tabby pouncing on a laser pointer's dot. Looking around, he found the laser in the hands of a boy sitting on a park bench who looked around his own age, with purple hair that stuck up worse than Izuku's, and wearing a jacket that was too big for him. The boy's eyes darted to Izuku the moment he came into view, and he looked ready to bolt for a second, before he dropped his gaze to his lap. In the absence of the laser, Akio had hopped up onto the bench and laid down across the kid's legs.

"Is this your cat, then?" the boy asked. His voice was quiet, and sounded a little strained, like he was very tired.

"Ah, no, he actually belongs to one of my neighbors. But Yamamoto-san is really old so I offered to look for Akio for him." Izuku came over toward the bench, but the boy seemed to tense up again, so he stopped short instead of sitting down. "Akio isn't usually this friendly with strangers, you must be great with cats!"

The boy blinked slowly. "I guess."

Well, that wasn't much of a response to build a conversation with, but Izuku wouldn't let that discourage him. His mother always told him strangers were just friends you hadn't met yet! He smiled, and the boy blinked again. "I love cats," he said. "Akio is one of my favorites around the neighborhood, but there's also a cat cafe down the road here that's really great! I run errands for the waitresses while they're busy, sometimes, and then when it's not so busy sometimes they let me play with the cats, it's great!"

Another slow blink. "That sounds nice."

Izuku grinned. "I'm Midoriya Izuku," he said, remembering his manners and bowing without getting too close to the other boy. "It's nice to meet you!"

"…Shinsou Hitoshi. I can't bow with a cat in my lap."

"It's fine!" Izuku chirped. "Yamamoto-san isn't that worried about Akio so I don't need to take him back soon or anything. Where do you go to school?" There were only a few schools in the area for kids their age. Speaking of, he glanced around, but there was no sign of Kacchan. He liked hanging out in the city more than parks these days, anyway, so they were probably safe.

"I don't," Shinsou replied.

"Huh? Oh, are you homeschooled?" Izuku asked.

Shinsou seemed to shrink in his seat. "No. I… I ran away."

"Oh…" Izuku thought about that. He'd considered running away himself, of course, to get away from Kacchan, but the thought of his mother had prevented him. If Shinsou had run away despite that, his parents must not be great like Izuku's mom. That was too bad. "Are you not from Musutafu, then?"

Shinsou stared. "No… I'm from Koreria up in Saitama prefecture." He tilted his head. "Aren't you gonna ask why I ran away?"

Izuku shrugged. "Do you wanna tell me?"

Shinsou shook his head.

"Then don't. You came a long way though, did you come to Musutafu on purpose?"

Shinsou nodded this time.

"Can I ask why about that?"

Shinsou seemed to think about it. "I guess so." He leaned his head back and looked up at the branches above them, hands absently stroking Akio's fur. "I came here because this is where my favorite hero is based."

"Oh?" Izuku furrowed his brow. "Who's that? There's only a handful of heroes who are really _based_ out of Musutafu; I think mostly because UA is so close, so not a lot of villains come near, and some of the teachers there can usually help out if they do. There's Present Mic and and Cementoss and I think I heard a rumor they're going to hire a reformed vigilante called Snipe, he's pretty cool, he's got this whole cowboy aesthetic and I think he might be American too but that's just a theory of mine. In the city itself there's Death Arms and Backdraft and Airjet… Oh! There's also Endeavor; I know he lives around here, although I've never seen him myself because he tends to work in Kanagawa or in Tokyo where there's bigger crimes…"

"Do you have an analysis quirk or something?" Shinsou asked, making Izuku realize he'd been muttering most of that out loud.

"Um. No." He blushed. "I just. Really like heroes. I think being a hero would be the greatest thing."

For the first time since they met, Shinsou smiled back at him. "Me too. One day I want to go to UA and become a hero." His eyes lost focus. "No matter who tells me I can't."

Izuku didn't think Shinsou meant to say that part out loud, but… "Yeah."

Shinsou's head jerked around to stare at him. "You… People tell you that too?" he whispered. He sounded shocked, like he'd never heard of anyone else being told they can't be a hero.

Izuku wasn't sure what to make of that. "Um. Yeah, all the time. Because I'm, um…" He twiddled his thumbs, staring at his shoes. God, but he hated the word. "Quirkless."

"…Oh." It's a sound of understanding, but doesn't contain any of the disgust or disdain he's used to hearing, and Izuku looked up hopefully. Shinsou scratched the back of his neck, avoiding Izuku's eyes. "Mine is… Brainwashing." He sounded like he hated it, the same way Izuku hates 'Quirkless'. "I can control people, they have to do what I say."

"Wha- That's so cool!" Izuku said, taking a step forward without meaning to.

Shinsou stared at him now, eyes wide, and it was blatantly obvious to Izuku that nobody had ever told him that before.

"How does it work? Do you need physical contact or eye contact or is it triggered another way, like how the 18+ Only Hero, Midnight, needs to close to people to put them to sleep? Does that qualify as an Emitter-type quirk, I guess? I've always thought that we need more than just three classifications; I tried to come up with a list once but I think it needs some refinement. But man, Brainwashing, you could do so much with that, that's amazing! You could stop robberies or villain attacks immediately, or hostage situations, and I bet it would be great for crowd control depending on how many people you can affect. I guess it must have some drawbacks but that's still super cool. You're gonna be an amazing hero one day, I bet, Shinsou-kun!"

This time he was broken out of his muttering when he heard Shinsou sniffle. Izuku jumped back, alarmed, and was already waving his arms in apology when he noticed that, while Shinsou's eyes definitely looked wet, he was wearing a smile to rival All Might's. He swiped the sleeve of his huge jacket across his face roughly, and hiccuped, "Th-thanks, Midoriya-kun."

Moving slowly, Izuku sat down on the bench beside Shinsou, who didn't flinch this time. "So, you never told me who your favorite hero is, who's based here?" he asked, hoping that changing the subject will cheer up his new friend.

Shinsou sniffed again, but went back to petting Akio. "It's Eraserhead. You didn't mention him before, but you seem like the kind of guy who would know him."

"Oh! I didn't realize anyone outside of Musutafu even knew about him, he's _really_ underground. I've seen him a couple times, I think, but… well, like you said." Izuku scratched his cheek, blushing a little. "He's one of my favorites too, after All Might, because his quirk doesn't help him fight at all. But it's so hard to find anything about him! Did you come here to find him?"

Shinsou kicked his feet. "Not really," he said finally, voice small. "I didn't actually come here from Saitama. My parents took me into Tokyo to…" he trailed off, taking a deep breath.

"You don't have to tell me, Shinsou-kun," Izuku said firmly. Neither of them noticed a man in wraparound sunglasses, wearing a black, long sleeved cotton shirt and sweatpants, ambling down the walking path behind them.

But Shinsou shook his head. "I want to tell _someone_ ," he said. He took another breath, then said in a rush, "I found out last week that my parents are… are villains." Unseen by both of them, the man in the black clothes paused as he passed behind them. "They brought me into Tokyo and left me in a daycare while they went to meet with someone. Yakuza, I'm pretty sure. And I just. Snuck onto a train to here. Used my quirk to make the person at the station give me a ticket. I saw the sign at the station and thought maybe I'd find Eraserhead." Neither of them noticed the man in black suddenly stiffen. "And he'd save me from having to go back to my stupid villain parents." Shinsou dropped his face into his hands. "I don't know. It was stupid and I know I shouldn't have run away but-" He started to tremble again. "You can't help what your heart longs for. No matter how much it looks like that dream is shattered. I want to be a hero _so badly_. And it's bad enough I already have this villainous quirk. How am I supposed to be a hero if my parents are villains, too?"

Before Izuku could think of a reply, they were interrupted by a gusty sigh from behind them. Both boys whipped around to see the man in black pushing his sunglasses up to his forehead and rubbing tired-looking eyes. "True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life, in whatever shape they may challenge us to combat," he recited dully, apparently to himself, before dropping his hands to look at the boys and cat on the bench. He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a small card whose gold backing both boys recognized at once — a Professional Hero license! He then turned the card over so they could both see the front.

There was a picture of the same tired-looking man, his lower face buried in a white scarf, and his eyes covered by gold-colored goggles. His name and licensing date were quickly skimmed over as both their attention was caught by the hero name printed boldly at the bottom: **Eraserhead**

After a moment, when both boys looked too stunned to speak, the hero said, "I'm sorry to have eavesdropped, but I'm going to have to ask you both to come with me to the police station. It sounds like you might have some information that could help stop at least one crime, and if you're potentially in danger we'll provide all the help we can. And…" he seemed to hesitate, his eyes searching Shinsou's face in particular, but he finished, "Who your parents are, or whether you have a combat-oriented quirk are irrelevant. What's important is the desire to improve, both yourself and the world around you. Live by that…and you _can_ become a hero."

* * *

Izuku had turned ten the next time he saw his friend, coincidentally at the very cat cafe he had told the other about on the day of their first meeting. He was here picking up some cupcakes for Mitsuki-oba-san, Kacchan's mother, when he noticed a head of purple hair staring out the window with no less than four cats in his lap.

"Eh… Shinsou-kun!?"

The head in question turned slowly to face him, one eyebrow raised skeptically apparently on reflex, before the other boy seemed to recognize him as well. The other brow shot up to join it.

Nakajima-san, the waitress that Izuku usually ran errands for, looked over curiously. "Ah, do you know each other, Izu-chan?"

Izuku paused, not really sure how to answer that. They were friends, he thought, right? But could you really be friends with someone you'd only met once, almost a year ago, and never saw again? He'd been worried about Shinsou, afraid that after the police had dismissed him to go home along with Akio that Shinsou would be sent back to his birth parents despite what Eraserhead had said. He hadn't seen the underground pro since that meeting in the park either, although that wasn't quite as unexpected. He'd updated his journal entry on Eraserhead with a sketch of the man's face based off his hero license, and made some guesses at the purpose of the scarf and goggles, but regrettably he couldn't remember the hero's real name. He knew it had been on the license, but he'd been too distracted by the hero name! But anyway, Shinsou hadn't ever gone back to that park, so he had decided to just hope for the best, that he'd found a better family to take care of him, and that hopefully they would meet again in UA–

"Izu-chan!" Nakajima-san swatted him gently on the head with a menu. "You're muttering like crazy and it wasn't a hard question. Do you know Hito-chan?"

"Ah, sorry!" Izuku scratched the back of his head. "I met him at a park last year, but I haven't seen him since then."

"Well then, go and say hi!" she shooed him over to the table. "Mitsu-chan called ahead and told us what she wanted, so we'll get them ready while you two catch up." She steered him into a chair opposite Shinsou and promptly dropped a kitten in his lap, before bustling off into the kitchen.

Shinsou eyed him carefully for a moment, before nodding in greeting. "S'been a while," was all he said.

"Y-yeah," Izuku stammered. "Are you… Doing okay?"

Shinsou nodded, gaze moving back to the window.

"Are you living here in town, now?"

Another nod.

Izuku remembered that it had taken the boy a while to warm up last time, too, so he didn't let the silent treatment discourage him. He smiled. "I'll still see you at UA in a couple years, right?"

Shinsou studied him carefully again. "Yeah," he said finally. He glanced around, then lowered his voice. "Eraserhead helped get me away from my parents after they were arrested." His tone came back to normal. "He also helped make sure I didn't get lost in the system and got adopted pretty quickly."

"And his new dad is _soooo_ handsome!" Nakajima-san put in, setting down a mug of hot chocolate for Izuku and a bag that presumably contained Mitsuki-oba-san's cupcakes.

Shinsou sighed. "Nakajima-san, I keep telling you, he's married."

"I've never seen a ring~" she trilled, smiling as she turned to take another table's order.

Shinsou planted his face in his hand.

"She's just playing, you know," Izuku said. "Nakajima-san doesn't mean anything by that."

"I know," Shinsou grumbled. "I've just told her a hundred times…" He shrugged languidly. "Who's that for?" He nodded toward the bag.

"Ah, I'm running an errand for Mitsuki-oba-san. Well, she's not really my aunt, she's one of my mom's friends, but I've known her forever. I used to be friends with her son, but–" Suddenly embarrassed, he cut himself off to take a drink of his cocoa.

"But?" Shinsou asked leadingly.

Izuku sighed, but he remembered Shinsou opening up to him before, so… "Kacchan was one of the first to turn on me when I never developed a quirk," he mumbled. "He's got a really strong one, and everybody says he's gonna be a great hero, so they turn a blind eye when he bullies people. Mostly me." He scoffed, uncharacteristically bitter. "I guess they don't care if a Quirkless kid gets bullied, really; it's not like he'll ever amount to anything, right?"

"Don't say that." Shinsou leaned forward, scowling, and held Izuku's gaze. "Don't ever say that about yourself again. Not even sarcastically."

Izuku blinked, a little surprised, and Shinsou blushed.

"My- My dad," he seemed to trip over the term a little, "He said that by even acknowledging the crap that other people say, you validate it. When you repeat it, it's like you're accepting it. And that's not something you should ever do to yourself. Don't let anyone tear you down. Don't let anyone make you tear yourself down."

He drank from his mug. "He starts in with it anytime I say something about turning out like my- my birth parents. Or if I repeat anything the kids at school say about my quirk. He absolutely refuses to listen to any of it, and I'm not allowed to say it even to myself."

He shook his head. "Honestly, it seemed silly to me at first, but since he started coming down hard on that rule… I've found myself dwelling on it less." He smiled crookedly, and Izuku grinned back. "So don't let me hear you saying stuff like that. We're gonna take UA by storm together, right?"

Izuku knew his eyes were swimming with tears, but he smiled his biggest, happiest, All Mightiest smile. "Yeah!"

And he felt as if the dream that had shattered when he was four was finally starting to come back together.

* * *

That was the real start of their friendship. They mostly only saw each other on weekends, since they went to different schools, but they exchanged home phone numbers, and their handles on the hero forum they both frequented, and kept in touch as best they could. On Shinsou's eleventh birthday, Izuku got him a bootleg Eraserhead action figure (there were no official ones). They both agreed it looked almost nothing like the hero, but Shinsou treasured it anyway. Two weeks later it was Izuku's birthday, and Shinsou got him an equally bootleg All Might. Izuku was delighted.

When middle school rolled around, they both got mobile phones and traded numbers immediately, beginning a basically unending chat about everything from heroics to costume ideas to the games they were playing to the memes they'd run across that day. Both of them went over their monthly data limit just talking to each other three months in a row, and both were promptly given extra chores to offset the cost of moving them to an unlimited data plan.

Both of them agreed this was absolutely worth it, and agreed to a given-name basis with each other.

* * *

Izuku was going on fourteen when he realized Kacchan was finally starting to lose interest in him.

This was nominally a good thing. They weren't really friends anymore, since Kacchan stopped being nice when Izuku never developed a quirk. He and his friends chased Izuku a lot, but that just led to Izuku getting better at running, and most of the time they couldn't catch him even with their quirks. Kacchan had the best track record, but Izuku was also good at hiding, and Kacchan's quirk was no good for that. If anything, the little explosions Kacchan let off involuntarily when he was mad helped cover up any noises Izuku might have made, and their flashes would ruin Kacchan's and his gang's night vision whenever they were out after dark.

Hitoshi had told Izuku the previous year that his dad was starting him on a training regimen that would ramp up throughout middle school, in preparation for the UA entrance exams, so Izuku had done the same as best he could, substituting his freerunning away from Kacchan for the cross-country club that Hitoshi complained about daily. They were in their second year now, and Izuku was trying to figure out a good way to work out properly without free weights.

Unfortunately, losing interest in Izuku meant that Kacchan's attention turned to other kids, and Izuku's altruism wouldn't let that stand. It wasn't the first time Izuku had to step between Kacchan and some smaller kid — far from it — but it hadn't happened all that often lately, because Kacchan always took it as a challenge when he couldn't catch Izuku, and that usually kept him from finding new targets.

Nothing would ever stop Izuku from stepping in between Kacchan and his new mark, just like he'd done for Itou all those years ago, but regrettably there wasn't really a dojo nearby he could conveniently master martial arts at, so doing so still mostly resulted in him getting pummeled. Not wanting to get in trouble, Izuku still rarely hit back, mostly doing his best to dodge, block, or deflect the hits from Kacchan, Oshiro-kun, and Ishikawa-kun, who had taken the place of Tsubasa-kun when the latter moved away the previous year. He didn't bother to say anything — he hadn't actually spoken to Kacchan since the start of middle school, and was planning on keeping it that way. He just smiled, which of course only served to enrage his former friend.

Izuku went home that day with a black eye and tissues stuffed in his bleeding nose, but with a smile on his face that Yoshida-kun hadn't gotten hurt. With Kacchan already finished with him for the day, he'd have to do his parkour later, but first he wanted to head home and get some ice for his eye. Hopefully he could meet up with Hitoshi during the summer break, maybe for his birthday next week.

Stopping at the street corner, he dug out his phone and opened their preferred messaging app.

 _small might - 'UA? More like Yuu-eyyyyy!' | Friday, 16:34_

‹small might› stopping a bully:

‹small might› feelsgoodman dot jpg

‹catnap› gdi zukkun

‹catnap› what happened

‹small might› I stopped a bully.

‹small might› why don't you listen when I talk, Hicchan?

‹catnap› because the last time you stopped bakujerk from beating someone up you got your nose broken and didnt tell me for a week

‹small might› …suddenly, I can't read

‹SueStormStan› DDD: Smol! Take care of yourself!

‹G-note› You do have a somewhat alarming disregard for your own health and safety, to hear catnap tell the story.

‹small might›

‹small might› it's true, but you shouldn't say it.

‹Hardly Noticeable› That's so manly SM

‹Hardly Noticeable› Not the hurting yourself part but the standing up to a bully

‹Hardly Noticeable› I couldn't do that but I admire you a lot for it

‹small might› ahh, come on HN what have we said about being so hard on yourself?

‹Hardly Noticeable› …It's hard, man

‹catnap› buh dum tish

‹Hardly Noticeable› lol… But seriously, like

‹Hardly Noticeable› I saw something like that going down last month

‹Hardly Noticeable› Some third year students were picking on an underclassman and I wanted so badly to say something, but my legs just froze up

‹Hardly Noticeable› This other girl from my class stopped them while I was still yelling at myself…

‹SueStormStan› Ooooo~ Was this the same girl you ha crush on last year? ( ͡ºั ͜つ ͡ºั)

‹catnap› sue comin in to spill the tea

‹Hardly Noticeable› Aw, come on S, I told you that in confidence…

‹Hardly Noticeable› Anyway I don't think it was really a crush, more like

‹Hardly Noticeable› SM what do you call it when it's like a crush but you don't really want to date you just really want to be friends with someone

‹small might› that's a squish!

‹Hardly Noticeable› Yeah! She just seemed really cool and I wanted to hang out

‹Hardly Noticeable› And then this happened and now I KNOW she's really cool so, hah

‹Hardly Noticeable› No chance of that now, right

‹catnap› oi quit with that

‹catnap› second strike today hn

‹catnap› youve really gotta get outta this self deprecation spiral

‹catnap› youre great and i bet shed be your friend if you mcfreakin said smth to her

‹catnap› youve even got an opening

‹catnap› hey i thought it was gr9 how u stood up 2 those jerks

‹G-note› Your typing never ceases to hurt my eyes, but I must concur with the sentiment you express.

‹catnap› look

‹catnap› youre all about manliness

‹catnap› heres a lesson on masculinity straight from my dad

‹small might› ooo I'm tuning in too, secondhand stories from Hicchan's secret dads are my only source of fatherly advice

‹catnap› my dads arent secret they just both work a lot

‹small might› we have been friends for four (4) years and I haven't met even one of your dads

‹small might› and you have two (2) dads to meet!

‹small might› if my mom hadn't talked to at least one of your dads on the phone I would be half convinced you were still dadless

‹catnap› ANYWAY

‹catnap› heres a lesson on masculinity straight from my dad, hn

‹catnap› and ill even use proper grammar so g will get off my back

‹catnap› You don't need to run your mouth off to prove how macho you are. Just be confident, put your all into what you do, and always strive to be the best version of yourself, and people will fill in the rest themselves.

‹Hardly Noticeable›

‹catnap› funny side note, zukkun, he told me that after i relayed one of your stories about bakubaby

‹small might› aksldfjaszxjckvl…

‹Hardly Noticeable› You know what

‹Hardly Noticeable› Okay

‹SueStormStan› Okay? (✿ó ꒳ ò)

‹Hardly Noticeable› Yeah

‹Hardly Noticeable› I wanna be the best version of myself

‹Hardly Noticeable› It's summer break, I'm gonna reinvent myself

‹Hardly Noticeable› I bought some hair dye last week, I've been trying to psyche myself up to use it

 _ **Hardly Noticeable is now known as Riot in Red**_

‹small might› oh, nice!

‹small might› I know my boy is a Crimson Riot stan so I'm digging it!

‹Riot in Red› Yeah

‹Riot in Red› Thanks guys

‹small might› this is so great, I don't know why I'm crying in the club right now

‹SueStormStan› Σ（・□・）smh I can't believe you'd hit up a club without calling ya girl!

‹small might› lol actually I'm sitting on a tipped over washing machine at Dagobah beach

‹G-note› What.

‹catnap› isnt that beach a literal garbage dump

‹small might› Yeah I'm halfway down the shore and I literally can't see the ocean past the trash

‹small might› I remember when I was little this place used to be gorgeous

‹small might›

‹small might› I'ma clean it

‹catnap› wait what

‹catnap› all of it

‹small might› yeah! I've been trying to figure out what to do for strength training the next year and a half or so, and I think this'll work!

‹small might› there's tons of heavy stuff here, and hauling it to the dump every day will make a great workout!

‹catnap› izuku no

‹small might› Izuku Yes

* * *

The next year and a half of middle school went on in much the same way. The three bullies of his cohort hadn't caught him at all since the previous summer, and since hearing that Izuku was also aiming for UA at the beginning of this school year, Kacchan had been focused exclusively on him, neglecting to bully anyone else.

By the last day of middle school it was a matter of routine: He ignored Kacchan telling him to jump off the roof and pray for a quirk in his next life, he snatched his notebook back before it could be exploded, he dodged away from Oshiro-kun's fingers, he kicked Ishikawa-kun in the shins as he slipped by, and he bolted out of the school for his final parkour practice of middle school, determined to end on a high note by losing Kacchan and his gang quickly so he could hurry down to finish cleaning the beach.

Izuku had come a long way from the tiny, scrawny kid with no friends and impossible dreams. Years of parkour-running away from bullies had given him great stamina, and just over a year of hauling progressively larger and heavier refuse off Dagobah Beach and down to the actual dump gave his admittedly still-short frame a musculature that he thought he could be proud of.

Hitoshi, who had more of a runner's physique from years of cross-country, had goaded him and Riot into comparing shirtless post-workout selfies. Their competition ended in a draw after both their judges forfeited: SueStormStan's only response to each picture was an admittedly-flattering 'humina humina', while G-Note simply sent that they were all in better shape than him and logged off.

He had a best friend in Hitoshi, and some decently friendly acquaintances online that he was hoping to meet in person when they all, knock on wood, got into the UA Hero Course.

Of course, he and Hitoshi also had a backup plan: Hitoshi's dad, a teacher himself, had told him (and thus Izuku) that while it was perfectly possible to get into General Studies with just an academic test, the UA Heroics Course Entrance Exam also had a physical combat portion that was rather blatantly unfairly weighted in favor of examinees with powerful, destructive quirks. He had also hinted that there was more to it than met the eye, but refused to say any more.

His other dad had also mentioned to him a little-known and rarely-exercised loophole: students from outside the Heroics course who had top grades and performed well in the UA Sports Festival had an opportunity to request relocation into the Heroics course.

Neither of them were worried about the written test, having aced the mock exam, so they were likely both shoo-ins for General Studies. But they both signed up for the Heroics Entrance Exam anyway. If nothing else, they'd both be able to say they reached for their dreams with both hands, repairing the shattered edges with shining gold hopes.

* * *

 **A/N: It's been a minute, huh? Hmm. What's that? Scheduled updates? I don't know her. I've been losing follows, which isn't that surprising considering I've updated…what, twice? In the last year? Bleh.**

 **Honestly, I think I let myself get hyperfocused on the update schedule, and it broke me down whenever I didn't feel like working on whatever story was supposed to be up next, so I'm trying something different. I'm going to attempt to get back into the habit of writing at least** ** _something_** **every day, though I'm not even going to lie to myself about updating more.**

 **Have an eye on my Tumblr and the other sites (same screenname everywhere); I'm working on some updates to those to hopefully help me start in a better direction.**

 ** _Kintsugi_** **, literally "golden joinery" is the art of repairing broken pottery with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold. Philosophically, it treats the breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.**


	2. Missing Things

**A/N: If you'd like to chat, please pop into my Discord server at discord dot gg slash ABfg74C**

 **If you enjoy my work, check out my tumblr at .com.**

* * *

Missing Things

Izuku went for his morning swim on Dagobah Beach the morning before the exam, as he had done every day since he finished cleaning it up the previous week. He didn't think he would be able to improve his strength much further before the exam, so he'd settled into maintaining his present level by swimming against the current.

He dropped his towel on the now-pristine sand, shucked his shirt, and toed off his shoes, before sitting down to put sunblock on his face and ears. He had enough freckles, thank you very much, he didn't need to go into the UA entrance exams looking like he had chickenpox.

He waved at Yagi the Cornstalk Man, whom he had met a few weeks into his cleanup project. Yagi looked to be in very poor health if you asked Izuku — he was dangerously skinny and seemed to frequently cough up blood, but he was friendly and quite lively despite his apparent illness. Izuku mentally referred to him as the Cornstalk Man not only for his skinny stature and bright blond hair, but also his cornflower blue eyes, sunken as they were in his gaunt face.

Yagi enjoyed the newly-cleared beach a lot. Apparently he had lived in Musutafu for a few years about four decades back, and upon moving back had been very disappointed with the state of the beach before Izuku cleaned it. He had volunteered his truck to help haul the garbage to the dump, and even chimed in with some training tips once he heard that Izuku was aiming for UA.

Izuku liked him a lot; even more so when he found out that Yagi knew All Might, and had even worked in his Hero Office for a long while. Izuku and Yagi had very similar ideas about heroics, and the older man knew a surprising amount about other heroes that All Might had worked with. Izuku was stunned to learn that Yagi, too, was quirkless, and delighted to realize that there was a potential job in the heroics industry for him no matter what. What Izuku found odd was that, while he agreed with All Might's ideals without reservation, Yagi never seemed to agree with Izuku that All Might was not just the Number One hero, but also the actual best hero there had ever been.

Izuku supposed it was a generational thing. Yagi's favorite hero was a Shimura Nana, someone from a long time ago that Izuku, surprisingly, had never heard of. From the sound of it, though, Yagi had actually known her; he had told a lot of stories, and Izuku liked what he heard. She seemed to share their ideals as well, and he thought All Might would probably have liked her.

Yagi agreed.

"Good morning there, young Midoriya," Yagi puffed, struggling to set up an umbrella over his usual folding chair. He wore an old-fashioned, striped, one-piece bathing suit that was enormously too big for him, as usual, despite the fact that Izuku had never once seen him go in the water.

"Good morning, Yagi-san!" Izuku chirped, kipping up from his towel and starting some simple, aerobic yoga stretches he had learned off the internet. "I hope you ate something this morning," he added, frowning at Yagi over his shoulder.

"As much as I could, my boy," Yagi sighed. "It's not really a matter of not eating enough, as it is not being _able_ to eat any more than I do."

Izuku paused in the middle of a backbend. "What do you mean?"

Yagi blinked down at him. "That's right, I suppose I've never showed you why I had to retire from my work at the hero agency…" he said slowly.

He sighed, then carefully picked his arms out of the sleeves of his bathing costume. The baggy material fell easily to his thin waist, and Izuku tumbled ungracefully out of his stretch as he gaped at the truly horrific scarring that covered most of Yagi's left side. It looked like he'd been exploded from the inside, then the torn strips sewn back together as best as the surgeons could.

"There's not much left of my stomach," Yagi explained ruefully, twisting slightly to show how far the scars continued across his flank and back, before slowly tugging the outfit back up to his shoulders. "Which is why I can't eat very much. And that's just the start of things I'm missing. My left lung is gone. So is my spleen. And I've only got about half of my left kidney. There was damage to my liver and heart as well. Frankly, I really shouldn't be alive." He shrugged a little uncomfortably, and Izuku realized he was still staring.

Blushing, Izuku returned to his stretches. "Is it okay if I ask what happened?"

"It was…" Yagi trailed off, but seemed to decide to answer. "I got hit by a villain's attack. At the same time that… that All Might defeated the villain. Nobody thought I would make it, and I'm afraid…it's a rather good example of why people like us should avoid the Heroics industry."

Izuku froze. "'People like us…'," he repeated slowly. "You mean people without quirks."

"Yes." Yagi's voice sounded regretful, likely because he knew by now exactly why Izuku wanted to get into UA, why he'd used cleaning the beach for exercise, and why he'd asked so many questions about All Might's hero agency. "I just don't think it's safe for people without a quirk."

"I can…" Izuku had to swallow so he wouldn't choke on the words. "I can understand why you would think that. But can I ask you something, Yagi-san? Do you regret the work you did with the hero office, just because you were injured? Do you regret helping people?"

One thing Izuku knew by now was that while Yagi could change the subject like nobody's business, he never told an outright lie. "No," he admitted finally. "But, young Midoriya…"

"If you knew this would happen when you started," Izuku interrupted, not looking at Yagi, but staring out at the ocean where the horizon merged with the sky, "If you knew what would happen to you… Would you still take the job?"

Yagi was quiet for a very long time before he whispered, "…Yes."

Izuku turned to face him. Yagi's head was bowed, and his eyes looked even more shadowed than usual. "Then, you understand why I also still want to be a hero," he said. It wasn't really a question, and when Yagi looked up, Izuku gave the man his brightest, sunniest, All Mightiest smile. "There's nothing I could ever do with my life that's more important than helping people."

Yagi looked lost for words, so Izuku just finished his stretches and moved toward the ocean to start his swim.

"Young Midoriya…" Yagi called, and Izuku glanced back at him. "Good luck on your entrance exam tomorrow, my boy."

He missed the frown that creased the man's gaunt face when he turned away again.

* * *

The next morning, Izuku bolted his breakfast without noticing what he was eating, kissed his mother on the cheek, and ran out the door already buried in his phone.

 _small might - 'UA? More like Yuu-eyyyyy!' | Monday, 7:29_

‹small might› out the door!

‹small might› mindfreak are you still gonna meet me at the front gate?

‹small might› mindfreak

‹small might› mindfreak

‹small might› mindfreak

‹mindfreak› afjsdakj jfc zukkun yes ill fuckin meet you at the fuckign gate

‹mindfreak› even tho i shouldnt if i had any self preservation

‹mindfreak› it is way too goddamn early to deal with your energy level

‹small might› love you too Hicchan!

‹who ya gonna call› Ahhhh~ ktkr! I feel you at least, Smol; this is super exciting! We're finally testing into UA ( °∀° )!

‹Riot in Red› Hell yeah! There's no way you guys won't make it in!

‹small might› you too, RR!

‹small might› ajdskfalj I can't believe we're finally gonna meet you guys!

‹mindfreak› woo

‹small might› Hicchan is excited too, don't let him fool you.

‹mindfreak› ok ok i am awake but at what cost

‹Bury Me In Black› That is, as they say, a Mood™.

‹Riot in Red› Ah, come on guys, you've gotta be at least a little excited!

‹Bury Me In Black› I do wonder if we'll be in the same class.

‹who ya gonna call› Don't jinx us! (ᗒᗩᗕ)

‹small might› I don't think you guys have anything to worry about!

‹small might› no self deprecation here, I think it's me and Hicchan who will have the hardest time.

‹small might› and that's only because he's being stubborn and woN'T USE HIS DAMN QUIRK!

‹mindfreak› its cheating

‹small might› IT'S YOUR POWER!

‹small might› YOURS!

‹small might› USING IT IS NOT CHEATING!

‹mindfreak› …

‹small might› and I KNOW your dads have said the same thing.

‹mindfreak› …

‹small might› Hicchan. I know why you don't want to. But I'm telling you it's okay to do it. You're using what you have to your best ability, just like everyone else. If UA can't see it, that's THEIR loss.

‹mindfreak› …okay

‹mindfreak› you win

‹who ya gonna call› Σ(･o･;)! We're finally gonna see your quirk in action? We're finally gonna know what it does!?

‹mindfreak› well

‹mindfreak› that depends if we end up in the same group

‹mindfreak› i heard last year there were six groups of hopefuls

‹mindfreak› scuttlebutt says theres gonna be seven this year

‹small might› …one day I will figure out how you know things like that.

‹mindfreak› :3c

‹Riot in Red› The rest of us are still gonna meet up today, right?

‹who ya gonna call› Heck yeck!

‹Bury Me In Black› After the exam, yes, let us celebrate or commiserate as a group.

‹who ya gonna call› hshshshs Don't! Jinx! Us! .｡.:*･゜(/)ᗒwᗕ(\\)゜･*:.｡.

‹mindfreak› b i absolutely refuse to believe youre this much of an edgelord in person

Grinning and pocketing his phone, Izuku squeezed out of the train and jogged up the street toward the gates of UA, checking his pockets obsessively for his invitation letter, and the electronic pass that came with it, which would allow him through the security gate. There was no sign of Hicchan yet, but if he was texting the group this frequently he had to be out of bed and on his way.

Though he'd never been to his friend's house, he knew Hitoshi lived much closer to the school than Izuku himself did, so he'd probably be here soon. Antsy from skipping his morning workout, Izuku began to pace, muttering under his breath the things he most wanted to remember for the written test, and ignoring the looks he was getting from the other exam hopefuls as they passed him. There was bound to be sections on all the major subjects, plus a foreign language portion (English, most likely, since Japan had pretty close ties with America), and since he was aiming for Heroics there would be an extra few questions regarding that career path, which he decided would be best to answer right away while all the laws and such were fresh in his mind. As long as he wasn't missing anything…

He'd just turned for another circuit when he crashed into someone.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" he cried, catching them by the shoulders and pivoting so they would stay upright while he fell. A pair of hands caught his elbows, but there was no way the person had enough leverage to keep him from falling, so Izuku just closed his eyes. At least if they fell, they would land on him and not get hurt.

A moment passed, and he didn't hit the ground. Izuku squinted open one eye, and found he was still mostly upright in front of the person he'd bumped into. The same person who had apparently kept him from falling with what had felt like a very light grip on his elbows. The same person who happened to be a _very cute girl oh god._

Izuku tried to scramble backward to give her some personal space, but found himself floating in midair. She seemed to get what he was doing and let go with one hand, stepping back and carefully pulling him properly upright. She smiled, and her already-rosy cheeks got pinker. "Sorry for using my quirk without your permission, but it's a bad omen to trip and fall, right?"

"Ah, yeah… Thank you."

She pressed her fingertips together, and Izuku felt gravity reassert its hold on him. He landed lightly and promptly stepped out of her personal space, bowing in thanks.

"Sorry for bumping into you!" she said, laughing nervously. "I'm super anxious and I wasn't watching where I was going."

"N-no, it was my fault!" Izuku stammered. "I'm just glad you weren't hurt."

"Ah, that's sweet! Well, good luck to both of us!" With one last smile and a wave back at him, she headed in through the gate.

Izuku heaved a sigh, before he was abruptly caught in a headlock. He flailed for a moment, afraid it was Bakugou, before he heard Hitoshi's dry drawl.

"Very smooth, Zukkun. You're a regular Romeo."

Izuku slumped bonelessly, and Hitoshi let him go. "You saw all of that, huh?"

"I'd just turned the corner when you tried to get straight to first base," Hitoshi teased.

Izuku let out a strangled noise, that Hitoshi always told him was the verbal equivalent of a keyboard smash. "It wasn't like that! And she was really nice about it, don't be a jerk!"

Hitoshi smirked lazily. "Did you at least get her name?"

"…" Izuku refused to meet his best friend's eye.

"Oh well," Hitoshi sang. "I guess you'd better get in so you get another chance to ask." Stuffing both his hands in his pockets, he slouched past Izuku and left him running to catch up.

* * *

The two hopefuls followed the general flow of traffic into what looked like the cafeteria, where they were directed to random seats by what looked like third-year students, some of whom Izuku thought he vaguely recognized from last year's UA Sports Festival. They were provided with a test and a pen, and at the sound of a buzzer, a one-hour clock started and there was a flurry of motion as everyone flipped their test packet.

Izuku glanced down at the first question and grinned.

 **1\. What is the legal definition of a Hero?**

Wasting no time, he began scribbling his answer as neatly as he could.

 _A Hero is defined as 'one who is licensed to use all capacities at their disposal, including quirks, to uphold the law and apprehend those who would violate it, particularly by unlawful use of quirks', according to Section 716 of the Code of Criminal Procedure._

 **2\. In what circumstances may an unlicensed citizen interfere in a crime?**

 _Section 213 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows anyone (not only citizens) witnessing any crime in progress to make an arrest. This is only applicable to crimes interrupted genkouhan (cf. the Latin-derived Western term_ in flagrante delicto _). Most criminals who attempt to flee, or refuse to identify themselves, can be held until police arrive._

 _However, making a citizen's arrest to prevent petty crime (e.g. illegal assembly, accidental injury, accidental trespass, defamation of character, leaving a parking lot without paying) is false imprisonment per Section 220 of the Penal Code._

 _In addition, unlicensed citizens' quirks may only be used in self-defense, and offensive quirks may only be used in the last defense of sapient life, per section 901 of the Criminal Code, introduced in 20XX. Even so, any damage inflicted via quirk by an unlicensed citizen may still be punishable by law._

There were also sections on more general world history, reading comprehension, mathematics, English, and a broad mix of sciences, none of which did Izuku find he had any trouble with. He finished off his last answer with ten minutes to go, signed his name at the top with a flourish, and dropped his pen to read over what he'd done, with a hand clamped over his mouth so he wouldn't start muttering.

Once time was up, some quiet murmurs broke out while the tests were collected, and then they were all chivvied to an auditorium. With some effort, Izuku managed to snag a seat beside Hitoshi, and nowhere near Bakugou, who was quite a few rows in front of him. The perennially- angry blond didn't seem to have spotted Izuku today, which was just as well, frankly. He was honestly having a good day and wasn't much in the mood to get screamed at or exploded, and besides he had more important things to worry about today, like what the physical portion of the exam would consist of, and how he was going to pass it when he didn't have a quirk. He'd trained himself to be as strong as he could but without more information there was no way to know whether he'd prepared in the right way. It couldn't be as simple as an obstacle race, because that wouldn't be exclusive enough, but maybe it was-

Hitoshi nudged him, and he realized he'd started muttering. He buried his face in his hands, but peeking through his fingers it didn't look like anyone other than his smirking best friend had noticed.

Before Izuku could whisper his thanks, the lights dimmed, and a spotlight snapped onto the stage below them, tracking a tall man with a extraordinarily high-spiked blond hair. He wore a leather jacket and sunglasses indoors, and an odd device around his neck that appeared to have speakers on it, and _oh my gosh it was the Vocal Hero, Present Mic!_

Another nudge from Hitoshi cut off Izuku's impending fangasm in time for the pro on stage to greet them all and explain exactly how the physical test would work: combat with faux-villain robots, each worth a different number of points, that had to be immobilized or destroyed to obtain those points, but there was no word on how many points were required to advance.

…Crap.

* * *

Hitoshi and Izuku were in different testing groups, but before they split up, Izuku grabbed his friend by the shoulder. "Promise me that you'll give it your all."

Hitoshi blinked down at his best, first, _only_ friend, swallowed, and nodded.

Izuku beamed. "Then, good luck Hicchan! I'll meet you and everyone by the fountain to the left of the entrance later!"

With that, Izuku darted off to find his own group, and was soon out of sight.

Damn. That last-minute promise pulled double-duty as a reminder, which meant Hitoshi couldn't 'forget' to use his quirk to participate. Well, in that case, he'd better start looking for a mark.

Hitoshi supposed it was lucky neither of his dads let him be as ashamed of his quirk as he had been when he was adopted — certainly nowhere near how he would feel without their lessons, he was sure. He didn't practice with it a lot, but considering the test had a ten minute time limit, he was pretty sure he could manage controlling two people. With that in mind, he sidled into the crowd, listening to the people around him, most of whom were muttering enough to rival Izuku.

Within seconds, he found someone promising: a rather tall figure with pastel-yellow skin and a head that looked a bit like a glue dispenser, who seemed quite nervous, but was reassuring himself that "The rules only said we had to immobilize them, my Cemedine quirk is perfect for that, it'll stick them down so they can't move…"

"Hey," Hitoshi said, tapping the figure's elbow.

The other examinee jumped in fright, but answered, "Yeah-?" before falling under the sway of Hitoshi's quirk.

Hitoshi grinned. "Do your best out there," he ordered, and the other nodded.

Just then, with no warning, the gates opened on their own and Present Mic's voice shouted "GO~!"

Sweeping his eyes over the crowd as they surged forward, easily keeping up thanks to his cross-country practice, he decided to see how some of the others performed before making his second selection.

* * *

Izuku sped into the city as soon as the test started, outstripping everyone in his group except for a boy in a blue tracksuit, who looked to Izuku like a bodybuilding accountant with engines in his calves. Rather than stick to the main road, Izuku quickly darted into an alleyway between two buildings. The robots were called faux- _villains_ after all, so they'd probably mimic villain behavior, right? That only stood to reason. If he was jumped in the alley, all the parkour he'd learned running from Kacchan would definitely serve him well! Though, just running away wouldn't be enough, he'd have to find some way to immobilize or incapacitate the machine in order to score points, and in such a brief time limit…

Wait. That time limit. Ten minutes wasn't nearly enough; it just wasn't rational. Hicchan's dad had mentioned that the physical exam was weighted in favor of prospective students with flashy and powerful quirks, but even with it, you would waste time running around and searching for the faux-villains. Izuku knew damn well that not _every_ student in the Heroics course had a quirk as destructive as Kacchan's. And given the time limit, that approach would have to favor speed over raw power, but not every Heroics student had a mobility quirk either! Riot in Red's hardening quirk was tough and had a great range of applications; no matter his shaky self-esteem, he was surely a shoo-in for the Heroics course, but there just wouldn't be enough _time_ for him to destroy enough robots to _definitely_ get himself into the top forty. UA would end up with a handful of students at the top with disproportionately high scores, and everyone else with just a handful. If you had fifty examinees all tied, how could they pick who got in and who didn't?

That meant he was missing something.

He thought over the rules Present Mic had outlined as he vaulted a dumpster and found a length of pipe on the other side, which he promptly scooped up, moving toward the center of the city.

 _Use your quirks to immobilize or disable these faux-villains and earn points…_

A door in his path flung open about ten feet ahead of him, and a two-pointer robot unfolded itself from the doorway, trembling the street and leveling its scorpion-tail weapon toward him. Without missing a beat, Izuku dropped into a baseball slide and skidded between its legs, then bounded back to his feet and swung as hard as he could at its head when it turned to track him. With a horrendous crunch, the head and its camera were pulverized. With a sad-sounding beep, the machine powered down, and Izuku turned on his heel and kept moving.

 _Of course, playing the antihero and attacking other examinees is prohibited!_

There, that was the only other instruction they'd been given. On the one hand, the reasoning was obvious. There were bound to be a handful of examinees who would try to make themselves look better by knocking others down — Kacchan sprang to mind again — but outside of outright bullies, the strategy didn't really make a lot of sense, because all attacking other examinees would do is waste your limited time and ensure both of you would have a lower score. And UA was definitely not the kind of place that coddled its Heroics students, so again, why bother specifying that examinees shouldn't act like antiheroes?

…Unless, of course, you wanted them to do the opposite.

* * *

Jogging along behind the largest group into the city, Hitoshi was debating between an examinee with a black streak in his yellow hair and one with rather prominent fangs. Both were moving with confidence that didn't seem to be feigned, and seemed like his best bet. A shame he wouldn't be able to get both, but trying to control three people would lead to poorer control in general as his attention was split too many ways.

As he was debating, two three-pointers rumbled into the street. Most of the runners skidded to a stop, but the two Hitoshi was marking didn't. Instead, both sped up. The guy with the fangs lunged, and his form rippled in midair, elongating into some kind of werebeast. He dug claws into the robot's arm and ripped it off in passing as he lunged for the head. Damn, Hitoshi supposed he should have gone with him — he had a feeling the kid wouldn't be able to answer now, in his transformed state.

Then his gaze flicked to the other student he'd been watching, and he grinned. Blondie didn't do anything quite as insane, just running up to the leg of the robot and laying a hand on it. Then there was a crackle and a smell of ozone, and lightning seemed to ripple out from the point of contact. The faux-villain's servos screeched and died. Well, he supposed, looks like second choice wasn't such a bad one after all.

"Yo!" he called, jogging past the kid who seemed to be shaking pins and needles out of his hand. "That was wicked."

"Thanks, bro!" the electric-user grinned and shot him a thumbs-up, then froze as Brainwashing took control.

"Take out as many robots as you can safely," Hitoshi instructed him, never breaking stride as he jogged by. There, that was a safe enough order, and he'd managed to make it smooth enough that nobody would suspect what he was up to.

Moving to the faux-villain the first kid had destroyed, Hitoshi wrenched a long, thin scrap of metal out of its broken arm and continued on his way, shadowing a group just a block over. A one-pointer jumped out at him, and he ducked, jabbing the scrap into its single wheel and causing it to smash forward into the ground, conveniently breaking and providing him with a new weapon.

Still, this wasn't going to be enough. Hitoshi could take out as many robots as he wanted on his own and he wouldn't be able to compete in points with someone who had a more destructive quirk. Hopefully he would be able to split the points for the people he'd Brainwashed, but he didn't want to cruise on that either. Going it alone wouldn't do him any good; he'd need to find people to team up with, so he decided to follow his second minion and a kid whose fingers were spinning like drills as they moved into a more run-down appearing part of town.

Ducking under a laser blast, he managed to make a running jump and smashed the camera of a two-pointer. His zappy ally took out another three-pointer down the street, but the other kid was busy with his own two-pointer and didn't see the one-pointer flanking him.

"Hey, Gurren Lagann!" Hitoshi yelled, straining his quirk.

"Oh, never heard that before-!" the kid snapped, and Hitoshi seized control.

"Dodge to your left!"

The movement was a little jerky, but the kid rolled out of the way of another laser blast which hit the two-pointer he'd been fighting. Hitoshi released him immediately, pouncing on the one-point faux-villain from behind and knocking its head off.

Hearing Present Mic's voice call "FIVE MINUTE WARNING, LISTENERS~!", Hitoshi didn't wait for the drill kid to shake off his confusion, instead darting after zappy and a kid with dragonlike scales covering his arms. He tackled the latter out of the way of three-pointer's treads, accepting the nod of thanks and dancing away from the gatling-fired rubber bullets of a two-pointer. The scaled kid raised his arms and the scales grew further, stepping in front of the gatling. He grabbed the two-pointer's arm and wrenched it upward, so that the fire dragged away from Hitoshi and hit the three-pointer instead, causing it to whistle at the friendly fire.

"Hey, give us a hand and zap this big one!" Hitoshi called to zappy, while he and scales dove apart to dodge a series of lasers. Zappy, happy to do as ordered, promptly fried the faux-villain, and the three of them continued on their way.

Hitoshi hoped he wouldn't have to seize control of too many other people to help them dodge, but this collaboration lark seemed to be working, and he definitely wasn't strong enough to move some of the other examinees here, so he'd just have to do the best he could.

* * *

 _We're supposed to help others!_

The thought struck Izuku like being run over by one of the three-pointers, and he immediately started moving toward where he could hear more signs of combat. Kicking off a wall, he caught hold of a fire escape ladder and pulled himself up to the roof, moving diagonally to get there faster.

Reaching the edge, he found a one-pointer passing just beneath him, and conveniently at his feet was a loose brick. He chucked it at the robot, nailing it in the head and causing it to shut down. Backing off for a running start, he leapt across the gap between buildings and reached the main street, jumping down and tumbling when he landed to bleed off his momentum. He looked around.

There was Mr Bodybuilding Accountant, zipping around at a good sixty kph and kicking robots hard enough to send metal limbs flying. And the nice girl from the gates; she was tagging faux-villains, flinging their weightless bodies up, and then dropping them. And there was another boy with permed hair, who seemed to be blasting lasers from his belt. The blasts were powerful, but short-lived, and from the way sweat was pouring down his face Izuku was willing to bet they took a lot out of him, so he didn't hesitate when it looked like the boy hadn't seen the one-pointer flanking him.

Dashing forward, Izuku grabbed the boy's manicured hand and dragged him out of the way, yelling "Heads up!" to the nice girl.

She blinked, but gave a determined nod, tagged herself with her own quirk, and jumped clear over the gatling fire. She pressed her fingers together like she had earlier, and Izuku let go of the boy he was dragging, pivoted, and caught her in a princess carry.

"Just dropping in?"

It popped out of his mouth before he could stop himself, and the blond boy laughed riotously, thrusting his hips and blasting the robot to smithereens. The girl in his arms, though, looked faintly green, and when he let her down she immediately bent over and retched.

Izuku blushed. "Ah, I know it was a bad joke, but I didn't think it was _that_ bad."

Coughing, she turned to face him and started giggling. "No, no! I just get sick when I use my quirk on myself!"

"There don't seem to be any more of those faux-villains around here," rumbled the speedster, skidding to a stop nearby. He swung his arm in a forceful chop. "We should move on if we wish to make the most of the final two minutes."

"We made a pretty good team," the girl chirped. "Maybe we should work together?"

The speedster frowned. "Collaboration is certainly becoming of a hero in training, but the instructions for the exercise seem unavoidably competitive…" he rubbed his chin, then shook his head. "I am still short on points, but I wish you all the best of luck!"

With a sound of twin engines revving, he dashed away again.

Izuku slumped, but the blond with the lasers said, "I thought it was a great idea, mon chéri! I can blast them away, but I can always use someone to watch my back!"

"Come on, then!" Izuku said, certain that there was more to the test than destroying the faux-villains and deciding to worry about how the scoring worked later.

The three of them ran on down the street in the same direction as the boy with the engine legs, only to find him a moment later turning a corner and accelerating back toward them.

"Hey, what-?" Izuku called, but the boy was already past them. The question was quickly rendered moot when an absolutely enormous robot turned the same corner the boy had just rounded, following half a dozen more students trying to escape it. They were all running pell-mell, nearly tripping over each other as the ground rumbled with each of the zero-pointer's steps. "Crap! We need to help them!"

The blond boy quickly hip-thrust again, blasting his laser at the faux-villain's head, but between the size and what looked like more than half a dozen sensors on its 'face', the beam didn't seem to faze it.

"This way!" Izuku yelled, running into a narrow alley, which seemed to successfully draw the attention of the other examinees. The buildings on either side were far too close together for the enormous robot to follow them — which didn't stop it from doing so, as it smashed into the buildings and kept moving, but it was unavoidably slowed.

At the other end of the alleyway he turned, waving frantically for everyone to pass him. He caught the nice girl's shoulder as they moved past some of the fallen robots. "When you release your quirk, does everything you drop keep its momentum?" He asked hurriedly.

"Yes?" she replied, sounding confused.

"Then, can you tag as many of these as you can?" He gestured at the broken two- and three-point faux-villains around them. "We'll shove them as hard as we can at it when it comes out of the alley, and then you can let them all go at once!"

Her face cleared. "Ah! Great idea! Hey, everyone, come here, we've got a plan!"

As she ran around slapping the giant metal hulks, Izuku quickly explained the plan, and the nine of them each grabbed a fallen robot to throw.

The zero-pointer finally forced its way through the narrow alley and turned toward them, in time for Izuku to yell, "Now!"

Everyone shoved in their own way; Izuku and the girl just dug in their heels and pushed, the blond boy from before used his laser to blast it forward, a tall boy with six webbed arms lifted the weightless machine and overhead-threw it, and so on.

"Wait for it, wait for it," the girl mumbled to herself, holding her hands close together as the scrap machines tumbled through the air. "And… Release!" She pressed her fingertips against each other as she said it, and suddenly the air was full of the clash of metal on metal, followed by metal on concrete as the zero-pointer tipped over and crashed to the ground.

Everyone cheered, though they were abruptly cut off when Present Mic's voice echoed through the city. "TIIIIME'S UUUUUUUUUP~!"

* * *

Ambling out of the gate of the false city and wiping the blood trickling from his nose on a handkerchief, Hitoshi noticed that both of the examinees he'd Brainwashed had cornered an adult, probably an examiner, as well as a pro hero who no doubt Izuku could have rattled off a dozen interesting facts about.

"Excuse me," Hitoshi said politely, strolling up to the small group.

The examiner, who was dressed like a cowboy and seemed to be wearing a gas mask, looked up, while both students seemed to glare at him. (Though since the taller student didn't have any visible eyes, he was only assuming from the aggressive shoulder posture.)

"Yeah?" the examiner asked, adjusting the stetson on his head. "You comin' ta report ya felt fuzzy-headed an' controlled too?"

Hitoshi shook his head. "No. I was coming to report that these two are probably talking to you about my Brainwashing quirk. I got this one–" he indicated the taller student, "–before the gates even opened, and the other one right after I saw him take down a three-pointer. My quirk is worthless on the robots themselves, so I applied it the best way I could." Hitoshi was honestly proud of how calm he sounded, considering he was sweating bullets internally, bracing for the teacher to decry him for a villain in the making like every other adult besides his dads had done all his life. The two other examinees were certainly giving him the same looks he'd been receiving in school all his life.

"Ah…" the examiner drawled. "I see. So, all'a their points are really yer's, I reckon." He glanced at the tablet in his hand. "Tha's bound ta put ya well inta th' passin' category then, Stretch. Bad luck fer these two."

"Wait, what?" Hitoshi couldn't believe his ears. "No, you can't just give me all their points-"

"An' why not?" He had a feeling the examiner's eyebrows would be raised, if he could see them. "Ya jus' finished tellin' me ya were responsible fer alla their points 'cept this one's firs' three."

"But they did the work!" Hitoshi argued. The other two examinees were looking bewildered now, but he paid them no mind. "It was still their quirks that handled the faux-villains. I only said something because my quirk is subtle and because they had a right to know what happened — if anything, both me and each of them should get all the points they earned."

"Nawp, don' work like that," the examiner shot back. "This exam is a zero-sum game; only one person c'n get th' points fer any given faux-villain."

Hitoshi stared at him, aghast, for a moment, then clicked his mouth shut. "Hell, I also Brainwashed some other examinees momentarily to help them dodge or collaborate, too, for the record. Just in case anyone else reports anything. The whole point was for us to share the points." He shoved his hands into his pockets and turned away. "Forget I said anything, in this case. Give both of them all of their own points."

"Hey, what?" the cowboy-themed examiner asked from behind him. "Are ya' sure tha's what ya want?"

Hitoshi shot a glare over his shoulder. "Like I said, it was their quirks and their strength that did the heavy lifting; they don't deserve to fail just so I can pass. Give them their own points."

Busy hunching his shoulders and storming away, he pointedly didn't listen to the exclamations from the two examinees, and consequently hear the examiner's low chuckle.

* * *

"…so I told him to just let them have the points," Hitoshi finished explaining it to Izuku. He rubbed the back of his neck tiredly as he sat on a bench, watching the other examinees streaming past them out of the school. "I'm not exactly happy about it, but I wouldn't want to get into Heroics by tearing other people down. Advancing yourself at others' detriment is… parasitic. It's villainous."

"Ah…" Izuku patted his friend's arm. "I think you did the right thing, for the record. And besides, your dad said there was more to the test than meets the eye, right? I think there's more to the scoring than JUST beating the faux-villains, otherwise there wouldn't be enough distinct scores to fill two whole classes. Then again I guess I could be wrong, it wouldn't exactly be the first time I completely outsmarted myself and thought I had the answer when I really didn't and made a total fool of myself by sounding super-confident in something that was really just a guess because I didn't realize I was missing something-"

He broke off as his phone buzzed, and he glanced over to see Hitoshi already buried in his. Glancing at the message, he snorted.

 _mindfreak - 'UA? More like Yuu-eyyyyy!' | Monday, 16:33_

‹mindfreak› zukkun and i are by the fountain on your left as you enter the school gate

‹mindfreak› look for the smol broccoli in the rumpled blue tracksuit muttering furiously to himself

‹small might› and you didn't stop me. some best friend you are.

‹mindfreak› im your best friend

‹small might› we ride or die, Xs and Os

‹Bury Me In Black› You're quoting k-pop at us. What a mad banquet of darkness.

‹who ya gonna call› OMW Mind! Also Smol, I LOVE BLACKPINK! (*ﾉ・ω・)ﾉ ヽ(・ω・ヽ*) ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

‹mindfreak› i still say no real person can possibly be this edgy

‹mindfreak› im calling you out b

‹Riot in Red› Yo, I'm up on the second floor think I see you guys out the window. Mind has purple hair right?

Izuku looked up, though he didn't see anyone he thought might be Riot through the crowd. He did, however, see the nice girl from the exam waving at him as she jogged over. "Hi there! I didn't get to say it after the test but that was a really great plan. I also didn't have time to introduce myself. I'm Uraraka Ochako, it's nice to meet you!"

"Oh! Hi, it's nice to meet you!" Izuku stammered. "My name's-"

"Deku!" Unfortunately, Bakugou chose that moment to make an appearance. "You're lucky I have to catch the train, you damn nerd." He glared as he stomped off. Izuku sighed. At least it was a short meeting.

"Deku?" Uraraka repeated, tilting her head.

"Ah, that's not really my name; I'm Midoriya Izuku." He bowed hastily.

"Oh, so it's a nickname? I like it!"

Izuku blinked. "R-really?"

"Yeah!" she nodded earnestly. "Like, _dekiru_ , 'I can do it!' It's cute! Do you mind if I call you that?"

Izuku knew he was blushing, and seeing Hitoshi's smirk out of the corner of his eye was _not helping_ , but… hell, this girl was really nice and in the space of thirty seconds she'd all but reclaimed his childhood insult. Screw it, they were friends. "Sure! Oh, and this is Shinsou Hitoshi, my best friend."

He indicated Hicchan, who waved lazily. "Yo."

"Nice to meet you!" Uraraka chirped again. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"Ah, yeah, we're both members of a forum, and some of our internet friends who were also testing out agreed to meet us after the exam," Izuku said. "Do you want to hang out? I bet you'd get along."

"Umm, sure, if you're sure it's okay?" she sounded a little hesitant, but nodded.

"Riot and Who will both love her," Hitoshi stated bluntly, employing his preferred nicknames for their online friends. He scratched the back of his neck. "Man, hard to believe I'm going to finally meet people I've known for like three years."

"Mind! Small! That's you guys, right?"

Pushing through the crowd toward them was a boy between Izuku and Hitoshi in height, with bright red, violently spiked hair, sharp teeth, and a huge grin. Izuku blinked.

"Riot?" He grinned back. "Your hair looks great, man!"

"Thanks!" he finally reached them and yanked Izuku into a manly hug, pounding his back. "It's great to finally see you, bro! My real name's Kirishima Eijirou!"

"Midoriya Izuku," he gasped, staggering back and trying to catch his breath. Eijirou was easily as strong as Izuku himself. "And uh, this is Uraraka Ochako, we met today in the test."

Hitoshi waved again. "Shinsou Hitoshi." he drawled. "Don't hug me. You seen anybody else?"

Eijirou shook his head. "No, but then, you only told us today that Small looks like a broccoli. I don't know what the others look like."

"If he's a broccoli, then you're an eggplant, Shinsou Hitoshi," came a perky voice from the other side of the bench. They all looked around and saw an empty, floating seifuku.

"Oh!" Izuku said, pounding a fist into his palm. "Now your old handle makes so much more sense!"

A giggle issued from the space above the blouse. "Hagakure Tohru, it's so great to see you all!"

"I literally can't say the same," Hitoshi said, without missing a beat. Uraraka giggled and judging by the movement of Tohru's jacket, she'd slugged Shinsou in the shoulder.

"Jerk!"

"What a mad banquet of darkness." This came from behind Eijirou, and everyone whirled around to see their final missing member, dressed in a black coat over a dark vest and trousers. He also had a bird's head with glossy black feathers.

"You did that on purpose because of my callout," Hitoshi smirked. "But I can't pretend it's not effective. Congratulations, even in the meatspace you retain your first place trophy in the edginess awards. Heh, no wonder you love gothic poetry so much."

"Yes, because I've never heard that before," their friend scoffed, voice surprisingly deep with no real distortion considering it was coming out of a beak. "Tokoyami Fumikage. Seeing you all brightens a cloudy day."

"Basically have to, everyone else here is practically bottled sunshine," Hitoshi grumbled under his breath, with no heat in his words. Tohru slugged him again.

After one last round of introductions, they were soon all breaking the ice happily. It was a good day.

* * *

The week they waited for their results was one of the tensest, since they didn't even know exactly when to expect the letter. The tension was alleviated only by their increased closeness at all knowing each other's real names. While they agreed not to worry about honorifics online, they decided on friendly ones in person. Betraying their nervousness, they also all agreed to remain friends no matter who passed, and to keep their chat alive no matter what other friends they might make. Izuku also texted a bit with Uraraka, who was turning out to be a great friend as well.

It was an especially listless week for Izuku, who knew he had only gotten 3 points for the faux-villains, and had no clue if his other idea even held water, or how it might be scored. He had muttered himself hoarse twice, early in the week, and only stopped after that because he realized he was giving his mother anxiety. Instead, he spent as much time as he could outside of the house, usually at the cat cafe or on Dagobah Beach. He never saw Yagi-san, but was too preoccupied to notice that it was the longest the man had ever been away from the beach since they had met more than two years previously. He slept poorly most of the week, and by the time Friday rolled around he was almost numb, his mind spiralling out of control and thinking of all the things he'd likely missed.

And then it came.

 _who ya gonna call - 'UA? More like Yuu-eyyyyy!' | Friday, 19:49_

‹who ya gonna call› hshshs I just got my letter

‹Riot in Red› Same, dude!

‹Edgar Allan Hoe› I as well.

‹who ya gonna call› Σ(ಠಿ_ಠಿ)

‹Edgar Allan Hoe› …Who is responsible for changing my handle?

‹Edgar Allan Hoe› Shinsou, was it you? I just want to talk…

‹mindfreak› gotta blast

‹who ya gonna call› Smol? Did you get your letter too?

‹small might› yeah, I got it.

‹small might› I've been staring at it sitting unopened on my desk for like ten minutes.

‹who ya gonna call› Big heckin' mood! (｀д｀ﾉ)ﾉ

‹small might› okay, okay, all together now, right?

‹Riot in Red› Yeah!

‹Edgar Allan Hoe› I was successful. The eternal darkness grants a brief reprieve; there is no sweeter poison than hope.

‹who ya gonna call› I made it too! ＼(*T▽T*)／ﾜｰｲ

‹Riot in Red› AWW YEAH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT THIS IS GREAT!

‹mindfreak› i got in

‹mindfreak› ugh my workouts are going to like double now

‹mindfreak› god why did i ever want to be in heroics

‹Riot in Red› Dude, do you have to bitch about McFreakin everything?

‹mindfreak› yes

‹mindfreak› i will bitch about heat

‹mindfreak› i will bitch about cold

‹mindfreak› i will bitch about sunshine

‹mindfreak› and about growing old

‹mindfreak› i will bitch about everything inside and out

‹small might› I didn't make it

‹mindfreak› you will find there is nothing i cant bitch about

‹mindfreak›

‹mindfreak› what

‹small might› I didn't get into heroics

‹small might› I didn't get enough points

* * *

 **A/N: Plot twist.**

 **Also, man, how many more iconic lines from the show can I use in a completely different context? I guess we'll find out. Two of the Japanese laws I mentioned (that don't have to do with quirks and heroics) are real and accurate as far as I know. The Criminal Code does not go as high as the seven hundreds, so both 716 (read nana-hi-ro, a pun on Shimura Nana and the word 'Hero') and 901 (read ko-ze-i, as in 'kosei', the Japanese term for quirk) are my inventions.**

 **Some people asked about the chat handles last chapter. I thought they were pretty obvious since there were only five people, but I apologize if you were confused. Since that chat was about 18 months ago in the story, some of them have different handles in this chapter, but it's still the same five people who met up today after the test (plus Uraraka, who wasn't in the chat). I'll put together a full list of everybody's chat handles once more characters start chatting.**

 **Please don't expect me to keep up this kind of output rate.**


	3. Life Goes On

**A/N: If you'd like to chat, please pop into my Discord server at discord dot gg slash ABfg74C**

 **If you enjoy my work, check out my tumblr at backslashecho dot tumblr dot com.**

 **Dropping a warning right up top here for some M*neta near the end of the chapter. You honestly should know what to expect. He's a misogynist and a homophobe and so is his language. We aren't likely to see him again, but I had to get rid of him on-screen. You've been warned.**

* * *

Life Goes On

The letter had come in a surprisingly thick padded envelope, containing not only a letter, but also a flash drive and a disposable holoprojector. Upon dropping the latter onto his desk, it flickered to life, showing…

 _"I AM HERE to give you your Entrance Exam results!"_

Flailing, Izuku managed to hit the pause button so he could hyperventilate without missing the message. He stared up at his hero's face, the unshakeable grin and the shadowed eyes. What was All Might doing here? Shakily, he let the message play.

 _"Midoriya Izuku!"_

He paused again. All Might just said his name. He could now die happy.

A few minutes later, he was composed enough to start the holo playing again.

 _"Congratulations on a perfect score on the written exam. However, we regret to inform you that your physical exam resulted in an insufficient number of points to be accepted into the Heroics course."_

Izuku didn't even have the energy to pause the holo again. He just stared at nothing, letting the regretful voice of the Number One Hero wash over him.

 _"While I was tasked only to create the acceptance recordings for the Heroics students, I made an exception for you, on account of your excellent score on the written portion. You have a keen mind, young Midoriya, and we are delighted to accept you into UA's General Studies class 1-C. I have no doubt you will make great things of yourself. Plus Ultra!"_

The holo winked out, and Izuku continued to sit in the darkened room, mind stuck and spiralling on one inescapable fact: He didn't make it.

He didn't make it.

He didn't get into Heroics.

He was never going to be a hero.

 _"Stupid Deku! Useless! How could a Quirkless loser like you ever think you'd become a hero, haaah!?"_

Bakugou's voice seemed to echo out of his near-perfect memory, just as painful and cutting as the when he'd first heard it. Unlike most of the last five years, he wasn't able to block it out or look past it. In the end, it looked like Bakugou had been right after all. A Quirkless Deku couldn't become a hero. Just like Kacchan had always said. Just like Yagi-san had said. Just like All Might had said.

Slowly, he pulled the folded paper out of the envelope and smoothed it out on the desk. It said much the same as All Might, with a bit of extra detail concerning his score, and how points were obtained other than by destroying the faux-villains:

 **Midoriya Izuku**

 **Candidate for: Heroics, General Studies**

 **Examination results**

 **Written exam: 100 Points (Perfect)**

 **Physical exam: 3 Villain Points + 45 Rescue Points = 48 Total Points**

Perfect in theory, but a failure in practice. If that wasn't the story of Izuku's life…

His phone buzzing indicated at least 10 messages had been sent since he'd looked at the chat, a precaution since the five of them tended to talk so fast that getting a notification for every message would have burned out the vibration mechanism years ago. On autopilot, he powered on the screen, swiping away the notifications to look at All Might's smiling face on his lock screen.

 _"We regret to inform you that your physical exam resulted in an insufficient number of points to be accepted into the Heroics course."_

He unlocked the phone and scrolled through the missed messages. They'd all made it. He wasn't surprised, they were good people with strong quirks and they were all going to make great heroes.

Without him.

He thought about just leaving the chat so that life could go on without him dragging down those who'd proved to have potential, but he knew Hicchan wouldn't let him get away with it. So he bit the bullet and sent it.

 _small might - 'UA? More like Yuu-eyyyyy!' | Friday, 19:56_

‹small might› I didn't make it

‹mindfreak› you will find there is nothing i cant bitch about

‹mindfreak›

‹mindfreak› what

‹small might› I didn't get into heroics

‹small might› I didn't get enough points

He dropped the phone again, absently silencing it, not wanting to see their reactions. His immediate instinct told him they would all have expected it, that they would know that a Quirkless loser could never be a hero, but he shook that off. He knew his friends. No, they wouldn't say that. It would almost be worse: they would _pity_ him.

Pity was the worst; it was how almost everyone reacted when they heard he was Quirkless. Like he was some helpless infant, or a dumb animal they had to take responsibility for even if they didn't want him. It was why his mother's apology to him when they'd learned he would never develop a quirk had been so devastating.

 _"I'm sorry, Izuku. I wish things were different."_

Sympathy was all very well, and empathy was better — Izuku tried to be empathetic toward everyone. Even Kacchan: Izuku was sure his behavior stemmed from a fundamentally good place, deep down. Very deep down. So deep down it could only be picked up with seismic monitors, but still. Kacchan wanted to be a hero. He had a shitty attitude, but he wanted to fight crime and save people. He just didn't like Izuku, and while the reasons for that weren't really comprehensible, he could accept it. At least Kacchan didn't pity him.

It didn't make his behavior acceptable, but Izuku knew he wasn't entirely stable to begin with, so he would take what he could get. Hicchan had been a blessing, when they became friends; he didn't even want to think of what kind of person he might have been without his best friend.

He shook his head. This was…not helpful. He was spiralling, and he wouldn't be able to break out of it while he was sitting here, so he should go for a walk. Tossing the projector onto his shelf — it was still a personalized holo recording from All Might himself, no matter the contents — Izuku stuffed the letter and the flash drive back into the envelope where they came from. He got to his feet, slid open the window and hopped out, thankful that their apartment was on the first floor. He pulled the sash back down so it wasn't obviously open, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and started walking aimlessly.

Why exactly had he thought he could get away with applying for Heroics, he really didn't know. He supposed he might as well put it down to probably… 75% optimism, 25% wanting to spite Bakugou and the rest of the world for telling him he couldn't. Alas, neither was enough to secure a place in the Heroics program. Part of him wanted to argue that with a perfect score on his written exam, he had demonstrated he had better potential than others, particularly those who didn't have combat-oriented quirks and were essentially the same as Quirkless when it came to fighting… But even in his own head he couldn't play Hagakure like that. Her quirk was so cool, and she was going to be an amazing hero.

A telltale crackling and popping interrupted his aimless muttering, and he looked up to find his feet had been taking him through the back-alley shortcut toward Dagobah Beach. Judging by the way his shoulder was grabbed roughly, apparently he'd walked straight past Bakugou without noticing.

 _Ah, all right,_ thought Izuku as he was slammed up against the brick wall. _This might as well happen._

"Don't you fuckin' ignore me you shitty nerd, I asked you a question! What the hell did you think you were doing at UA?" Bakugou roared in his face.

Izuku was, as ever, grudgingly impressed he managed to yell this much without spitting everywhere. "I was taking the Entrance Exam like everyone else there, Kacchan."

Bakugou's eye twitched. "I've told you to stop calling me that, Deku! We're not friends! And I also told you not to bother applying to UA; I was supposed to be the only one from our shitty middle school to get in!" There was another sharp _pop!_ and a thin coil of smoke rose from where Bakugou's hand was clenched in the front of his shirt. Another scorch mark that he'd have to explain away to his mother, no doubt.

"Well," Izuku said in a dead voice, staring over Bakugou's left shoulder. "You don't have to worry so much. I didn't get into Heroics."

Bakugou paused; the pressure he was using to hold Izuku up against the wall slackened. When he spoke, his rough voice was softer. "…You stupid loser, you ought to be grateful you didn't get in. You'd just get hurt trying to be a hero without a quirk."

Curious, Izuku glanced at him, but Bakugou was avoiding his eyes. "Funny," Izuku said. "I didn't think you cared if I got hurt."

"I don't!" Bakugou snapped, letting go of Izuku's shirt and turning away. "Just stay the hell out of my way, Deku."

Somehow, the confrontation with Bakugou had done what the words of encouragement he knew he'd have gotten from his friends wouldn't have managed nearly so quickly — Izuku was motivated again. The balance had been tipped closer to 50% hope and 50% spite, now, but Izuku would be damned if he just rolled over and did what Bakugou told him to do.

Sighing and dusting off his shirt, Izuku continued toward the beach. Some fresh air and exercise would do him good.

* * *

"I knew I'd find you here when you stopped answering."

Izuku looked up at the sound of that tired voice to find Hitoshi ambling towards him.

"Ah, sorry," Izuku said, forcing himself to meet his best friend's gaze. "I just. Needed to clear my head. I'm okay now."

"Are you."

Izuku supposes he can forgive Hitoshi's doubting tone.

"I really am," he insists. "At least, I'm as okay as I can reasonably expect to be. Sorry to worry you. I'd text the group that I'm fine but I left it at home."

"I don't think any of us believe you when you say you're 'fine'," Hitoshi drawled. "Especially since the last time you told us that was after Bakubitch told you to jump off the roof. You saying 'I'm fine' is a huge red flag that you're not actually fine."

Izuku turned away. "It's true, but you shouldn't say it," he mumbled. "But I didn't say fine this time! I said I'm okay, and I really am."

"Hn." Hitoshi had drawn level with Izuku now, where he lay listening to the waves, and his gaze moved from Izuku's face to the front of his shirt. "What happened?" he asked, eyeing the new scorch.

"Ah, I bumped into Kacchan on the way here. It wasn't that bad, really. This mark on my shirt is all there is."

Hitoshi's eyes narrowed.

"I promise, Hicchan, he didn't do anything else." Izuku shook his head. "He didn't even really threaten me, he just said I should be grateful since this way I wouldn't get hurt."

"You shouldn't be _grateful_ ," Hitoshi spat. He flung himself down in the sand crosswise, throwing his legs across Izuku's and his arm across his eyes to blot out the streetlights and stars. "You should be mad. You deserve to have gotten in. You got robbed. You'll just have to show the pros that at the sports festival."

"I don't think so," Izuku said, smiling crookedly where Hitoshi couldn't see. "I don't think that'll be enough."

Hitoshi sat up, an angry retort on his lips, but stopped when he saw Izuku grinning up at him.

"I'm going to have to _win_ the sports festival."

* * *

Izuku got home late that night, sneaking back in his window and hoping that his mother would have just assumed he went to bed early. That hope was dashed the moment he turned around from re-locking the window, when he found the written letter from UA back out on his desk, and a towel-covered plate. Lifting the towel, he found a still-warm bowl of katsudon, and a note from his mother that she was still proud of him for getting into the best school in the country.

Sighing, Izuku kicked off his shoes, tossed his shirt into the hamper, and sat down to eat. Like hell would he skip eating his mom's katsudon, no matter how depressed he was — it was his favorite food and hers was his favorite recipe. He'd have to make her breakfast in the morning to thank her for the meal, and apologize for no doubt worrying her when she'd found him gone.

Glancing back at his desk as he chewed, he noticed there was still something in the envelope from UA. Frowning, he picked up, and shook out a flash drive. That's right, he'd seen it earlier, and hadn't thought anything of it, but what was it? Between the holo and the letter, he wasn't sure what else the school might have sent him? Maybe it was footage of him from the exam? With suggestions on how to improve? That might make some kind of sense, given he clearly wanted to be in Heroics and so many of UA's teachers were heroes themselves. Even All Might's holo had said that the school was excited about his exam scores, and he knew from Yagi-san that All Might's hero office had hired Quirkless people in the past, so maybe-

Realizing he was muttering, Izuku shook his head and plugged the flash drive into his laptop. As he'd guessed, there was a single video file, which he opened, and received a shock. It wasn't footage of his exams at all. It was a shot of a man in a black outfit and white scarf, with tangled black hair, sitting at a desk and gazing at the camera. It had been years, but he recognized that scarf and those tired black eyes.

 _"Hello, Midoriya Izuku. My name is Aizawa Shouta; I am a homeroom teacher for the Heroics course at UA. I don't know whether you remember me, but we met once several years ago,"_ said Eraserhead. _"I've seen you around town a handful of times since then, though I doubt you saw me in those cases."_ His gaze sharpened. _"Stop hanging around back alleys so much. Villains and criminals won't care if you're hero-spotting."_

Izuku blushed and fidgeted. He didn't _really_ do that sort of thing often anymore, but he also wasn't that surprised Eraserhead had spotted him.

 _"It's a waste of my time to sit around making sure you don't get kidnapped or mugged,"_ Eraserhead continued, _"And I don't appreciate it. It hasn't happened in several months, so let's keep it that way."_

And now Izuku was dying of embarrassment. Thank All Might this was a recorded video and not a live call, or he might have jumped right back out the window. Without opening it this time.

 _"Chances are you've read your letter from UA before playing this. If you haven't, stop now and read it."_ After a short pause, Eraserhead continued. _"You are in a very unique position, Midoriya Izuku. You submitted a subjectively perfect written exam, answering every question and providing an enviable depth of detail in your answers regarding heroics and quirk law. As an aside, do please be aware in future that while it was not the case in the Entrance Exam, UA assignments have length limits that you will lose points for exceeding."_

Izuku laughed hollowly. His last middle school essay on heroics law had gone five pages over the expected limit, to his teacher's resigned amusement. It sounded like Eraserhead wasn't so forgiving.

 _"Your physical examination's results, meanwhile…"_

Izuku sighed. Here it comes…

 _"Were also very impressive."_

What.

 _"Not every hero has a quirk that favors raw destruction, or even quick movement,"_ the video said, affirming Izuku's reasoning during the test. _"and so in reviewing the footage of the Entrance Exam, we weren't just watching for Villain Points. In general, it is not UA's intent, nor in our best interest, to reject those who would do the right thing. That is the purpose of the Rescue Points system. Not mentioning it explicitly is a logical ruse, to see who will assist their fellows and who will remain focused only on their own success. With 45 Rescue Points awarded, you personally received the single highest number ever awarded to a single examinee. It's also been a very long time since one of the zero-point robots was destroyed. For what it's worth, you impressed a lot of people here."_

Well that was something, he supposed. It would have been nicer if it didn't come on the proviso of a rejection from the program, but he supposed he could take the inherent compliment that the pros who taught at UA thought he had a heroic mindset.

 _"Unfortunately, even with those 45 Rescue Points, you were just outside of the top 40 students who were accepted into the Heroics program. It was close. This is the other reason why All Might volunteered to make a holo for you, despite your only being accepted to General Studies."_

But then…what was the reason for Eraserhead's video?

 _"The reason for my own recording is quite similar. You've been dealt an unfair hand, and now it's up to you to make the best of a bad situation. It's true that not every hero has a flashy or powerful quirk, either in UA or in the system at large. But it may also interest you to note that while every professional hero has graduated from a Heroics course…not every professional hero necessarily_ started _in Heroics."_

Izuku stared. Did that mean…

 _"Yes, as you might have guessed, I am talking about myself. UA has been using these robotic faux-villains for a very long time. I tested well on the written exam, but I wasn't able to destroy enough faux-villains to qualify. I also had less total points that you received in rescue points alone,"_ Eraserhead added, his eyes moving away from the camera for the first time. He looked a little embarrassed. _"It was a wakeup call that I could stand to improve myself, and when I found myself in General Studies, I was determined that this wasn't the end. I made an impression at the UA Sports Festival that same year and was moved into an empty spot in Heroics. Life went on."_ He coughed. _"It may also interest you that I am known for expelling students I feel have no potential to improve. I have never taught a full class,"_ he added pointedly.

Izuku felt his hands curl into determined fists. Eraserhead took the time to make this video for him. All Might had made him a personalized video as well, when he didn't have to. Eraserhead told him that lots of the pros had been impressed by Izuku's test scores and strategies. He could still get into Heroics.

He, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, could still become a hero.

 _"That's all I have to say,"_ Eraserhead finished, rubbing his bloodshot eyes. _"Make a good showing in the sports festival, Midoriya Izuku. I expel students with no potential, and I won't accept a new one who has no potential. So don't you dare let me hear you've given up."_

The video flicked off. Blinking tears from his eyes and reaching back blindly, he eventually managed to grab his phone and unlock the chat he'd been neglecting.

 _small might - 'UA? More like Yuu-eyyyyy!'_

‹small might› surprise, bitch.

‹small might› I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me.

‹Riot in Red› Dude, there you are!

‹who ya gonna call› MIDO! How are you feeling? HUG FOR YOU~╰(*´︶`*)╯

‹small might› feeling like I need to change my handle

‹small might› because I'm officially an Eraserhead stan now

‹mindfreak› i mean mood but

‹mindfreak› ytho dot jpg

‹small might› he sent me a video with my UA letter

‹small might› saying that he thought I was robbed

‹small might› and I'd better put on a good show in the sports festival

‹mindfreak› no way

‹small might› I'm serious! would I lie about something like this?

‹mindfreak› no

‹mindfreak› unbelievable

‹Riot in Red› YOOOOOO that's sick as hell!

‹mindfreak› wait till my dad hears about this

‹small might› Dad 1 or Dad 2?

‹mindfreak› dad 2

‹mindfreak› dad 1 wont want to hear it

 ** _small might is now known as kokiri boi_**

‹kokiri boi› would you guys be okay if I added Uraraka-san? she texted me she got in too

‹who ya gonna call› I don't mind! No offense to you guys but it's been kind of a sausage fest in here for a MINUTE _(┐「ε:)_

‹Riot in Red› Does it even count if like half of us are gay?

‹kokiri boi› but I'm bi?

‹Riot in Red› Exactly! That's like half gay, which makes 2.5 out of 5!

‹kokiri boi› asdlfjkafgwse

‹who ya gonna call› Just because you're down with the sausage platter too doesn't mean there's any less of a deficit of tacos! (✧ᴗ✧✿)

 ** _Edgar Allan Hoe is now known as Desolation Row_**

‹Desolation Row› Your kaomoji do not make your statements less crass.

‹kokiri boi› haGAkuRE CAN YOU NOT!? LAKJFKLJ

‹Riot in Red› I'd be down! She seems cool.

‹Desolation Row› I consent.

‹mindfreak› oh because that phrasing doesnt look crass toko

‹Desolation Row› Bite me.

‹mindfreak› kinky

‹Desolation Row› I don't consent to that.

‹mindfreak› nm then

‹mindfreak› im fine w it zukkun

‹mindfreak› lets just fill up this chat with even more concentrated sunshine

‹Desolation Row› …

 ** _kokiri boi has added durararaka!_**

‹durararaka!› hi everyone!

‹who ya gonna call› Helloooo welcome! (｀･ω･)ﾉ ･ﾟ::ﾟ

‹durararaka!› i'm sorry to hear you didn't get in, Deku! it's not fair, you came up with a really good plan; I think you'd be a great hero!

‹kokiri boi› eojaifghuigsslkdjfgsd

‹mindfreak› thats zukkun for thank you but also im flustered

‹Riot in Red› Can confirm, Mido is easily flustered by genuine compliments

‹Desolation Row› From anyone.

‹durararaka!› that's? adorable?

‹kokiri boi› ajsdogvinIDNSOVOWSAEINGHOSDFGDS

‹who ya gonna call› Right? （✿＾＾）人（˶＾＾˶ ）

‹kokiri boi›

‹Riot in Red› I can't believe Midoriya is fucking dead

‹Riot in Red› Who am I supposed to go to the gym with now?

‹kokiri boi› oh yeah! as a UA student I get to use the gyms that aren't specifically for hero use! I can finally do some real strength training!

‹Riot in Red› Hell yeah, dude!

 _* Riot in Red fistbumps kokiri boi *_

‹Desolation Row› Moving on, if we may. What class did each of us enter? My letter indicated 1-A.

‹durararaka!› 1-A!

‹who ya gonna call› 1-A ( ´ ▽ ` )b

‹Riot in Red› I got 1-A too!

‹mindfreak› same

‹kokiri boi› Ah, that's so cool! And I know what class I have to shoot for now! (و•̀ㅂ•́)و

‹mindfreak› yeah man we can all be in eraserheads class together

‹kokiri boi› HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT

‹mindfreak› :3c

Sighing fondly, Izuku plugged in his phone and threw himself onto the bed. When Hitoshi dropped the cat emoji, he would never reveal whatever secret he was keeping. Besides which, after the day he'd had, Izuku was frankly exhausted, and he still had to wake up early to cook breakfast for his mom. Glad to have the final confirmation that his friends would stand by him, Izuku drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The rest of the year passed without much event, except for Hitoshi noting that his dads had enrolled him in combat training now that he was definitely accepted into the hero course. This had, as he'd predicted, at least doubled his his workload, and the true number was even higher because each day after his training he would meet Izuku at Dagobah Beach and practice everything he'd learned that day. Life went on. It wasn't perfect, but since Izuku was determined not to fight Bakugou, the hours he spent sparring with Hitoshi allowed him to build the very bare bones of a fighting style that he did his best to fill in on his own, based on his own observations of both pro hero fights and scraps with Bakugou. Already he beat Hitoshi more than he lost, although he wasn't entirely certain that was wholly down to skill.

Izuku was smaller, faster, and tougher than Hitoshi, whereas his friend had the better reach and arguably higher stamina from his cross-country running. The truth of who would outlast the other remained untested, however, due to Hitoshi's languid attitude and dislike of expending energy unnecessarily.

"That comes from Dad 1, the O.D.," he'd explained once as he laid across Izuku on the latter's bed. "He's all about expending the minimum effort for the maximum result."

"Not Dad 2?" Izuku asked, laying on his back with Hitoshi's legs tangled in his as he idly scrolled through a Hero forum and texted Uraraka.

"Nah, Dad 2 (Dad Harder) is more about… Shock and awe, you know? Make a real big impression right off the bat and you won't have to try harder later. They both have their good points, I guess."

"I can see that," Izuku mused. "I wonder which of those strategies I should go for in the Sports Festival. Should I try to outright win the first few events? Or sneak in near the bottom at first and surprise everybody in the tournament?"

Hitoshi hummed. "You're already a dark horse, coming from General Studies. I can't even remember the last time anyone outside of Heroics made it past the Round of Sixteen. I'd say you should probably turn heads as fast as you can and make sure the right people notice you as soon as possible."

"What do you think the first events will be this year?" Izuku asked, rolling onto his stomach and searching up a list of the last few Sports Festivals.

"The first event is usually something to eliminate as many as possible, right?" Hitoshi asked rhetorically. "Then they usually force you to team up, then break up those teams again. It's supposed to be an equalizer, but the Heroics kids usually all team up with each other and nobody else has a chance."

"Well, I bet I can team up with some of our friends," Izuku said. He set his phone down and stretched out his fingers, tipping his Hero Notes For The Future #13 off his nightstand and catching it, flipping to the pages about the people he knew were in 1-A. "Hagakure will have a huge advantage if we need any kind of stealth, and I bet Uraraka's quirk would be great for mobility. Kirishima would be all but invincible physically. Tokoyami is good for attacking or defending, and your quirk is a secret weapon as long as nobody knows how it works. Th-that is… if you don't mind working with me…?"

He trailed off, but Hitoshi cuffed him lightly on the shoulder without opening his eyes. "Duh."

Izuku smiled shakily, trying to force his insecurities down and compartmentalize. "I'll also have to keep an eye out for Kacchan. If he notices me, he's bound to come straight for me, and that'll only be worse if I'm doing well. He'll probably make it to at least the semifinals, since he's so combat-oriented, so I'll have to come up with a plan to beat him. I'm afraid if I come up against him too early, I won't stand a chance."

"The only rules to the tournament portion are that you win by ring out, incapacitation, or referee decision," Hitoshi reminded him. "He's also bound to underestimate you, right? So if you catch him by surprise and throw him out of bounds, it'll be over right then and there."

"Hmmm…" Izuku nibbled on the back of his pen. "You're not wrong about catching him by surprise, but I don't think he'll underestimate me that much. Or at least, it won't cause him to ease up at all. He'll still blast me as hard as he can, because it's me."

"One day I've gotta figure out what his damn problem is," Hitoshi grumbled.

Izuku shrugged. "My best guess is, he really does want to be a hero, which deep down he knows means keeping people safe. Since he's under the impression it's impossible to be a hero without a quirk, I'm obviously in the 'helpless, must protect' category, and he probably thinks he's keeping me safe by stopping me from trying to be a hero without a quirk."

Hitoshi rose up on an elbow to stare incredulously at Izuku, who shrugged again awkwardly.

"I mean, there's _also_ his unaddressed superiority complex and anger issues," Izuku admitted. "But I think what I said before is a big part of it."

Hitoshi blinked at him slowly. "You think too much, Zukkun."

Izuku laughed. "Like I've never heard that before, Hicchan."

Twisting around to prop his back against the wall next to his best friend, Izuku started scribbling plans for both teaming up with and fighting against everyone he knew was in 1-A. Once school started up, he'd have to get the lowdown from Hitoshi on the strengths and quirks of everyone in the class that he was likely to encounter…

* * *

Hitoshi's first day in UA was, he imagined, going a lot different than Izuku's. Hopefully Izuku's was quieter, though — the first thing Hitoshi had witnessed was a shouting match between Bakugou and a sturdily-built boy with glasses who was called Iida. Pegging the latter to be a stickler for the rules, Hitoshi resigned to keep Iida's focus on Bakugou as much as possible. The rest of them would have a more peaceful experience that way.

Kirishima, Hagakure, and Uraraka had all greeted Hitoshi noisily as well, the first two with hugs no matter how stiffly he stood throughout them. Tokoyami, thankfully, restrained himself to a silent nod, which Hitoshi gratefully returned. Blinking slowly, he found a desk near the back of the room with his name on it, in the second row from the door, and dropped into it gratefully. There was a smiling redhead to his right, a somewhat nervous brunette behind him, and a dwarf with hair that looked like grapes to his left, who was gazing at the brunette with lustful eyes.

Hitoshi clicked his tongue in distaste. The girl behind him was gorgeous, sure, but it was rude to stare. If the little stain didn't knock it off, he was going to make both her and Hitoshi seriously uncomfortable.

The seat in front of Hitoshi was empty when he sat down, but as he let his eyes unfocus, staring at the blackboard behind the teacher's desk, the space was suddenly filled with a shock of yellow hair. "Hey, it's you!"

Hitoshi blinked. "I know I am." Where did he know this kid… oh, it was Zappy from the Entrance Exam. Good, it looked like he'd gotten accepted despite Hitoshi Brainwashing him. Hitoshi supposed he ought to have realized that the Examiner was messing with him, but he didn't regret his outburst that day. It seemed to have worked out, after all.

The blond laughed. "That's funny, dude. Anyway, I'm Kaminari Denki! You've got the face of a popular guy. I bet you're popular with the ladies, yeah? Trust me, I can tell."

God, another sunshine child. Hitoshi wondered if he could get away with just putting his head down and ignoring everyone, but the thought of what his dad would say held him back. "Shinsou Hitoshi," he offered back, deadpan. "If you think I'm hot, you can just say it. Glad to see I didn't mess up your exam."

Choking back more laughter, Kaminari sat down at his desk and ran a hand through his yellow hair, drawing Hitoshi's eye to a shock of black that ran through it. Was that natural? "Yeah, that was a little tense for a minute, but after you left I argued with Snipe-sensei a bit and tried to split my points with you."

"Wait, what? Really?" Hitoshi couldn't wrap his head around that one. "Why?"

"Whatever you did to me, it didn't…stop me from knowing what was going on?" Kaminari seemed uncertain as he described the experience of his Brainwashing. "I just couldn't stop myself from doing whatever you said. But all you said was to take out robots safely, and then you stuck around and helped out with other robots." Kaminari scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. "I guess you probably don't know, but my quirk has a drawback where if I put out too much electricity, it short-circuits my brain for a bit until I build enough of a charge back up. But since you ordered me to fight 'safely', I never ran up against that limit." He grinned. "I also saw you helping other people both physically and with your quirk, and I thought that was awesome. When Snipe-sensei said he was giving us all our own points just like you said, I asked if he could give half of them to you since you helped us out so much. But he just laughed and said it wasn't necessary, so I guess he already knew you were gonna get in!"

"Settle down," said a tired voice from the front of the room.

Hitoshi inclined his head to the front, and Kaminari grinned and turned to face the teacher's desk, though there didn't appear to be anybody there.

The class slowly took their seats as more of them noticed the handful who were already paying attention — first Hitoshi and Kaminari, then Iida, Tokoyami and the redhead to Hitoshi's right, and eventually everyone settled down, though there were still some confused murmurs about what they were waiting for.

"It took a solid four minutes for you all to settle down," said the same tired voice. "Frankly, that's pathetic."

Out from behind the desk flopped a puffy yellow sleeping bag, which slowly rolled over to reveal the exhausted face of Eraserhead.

"Now that you're all paying attention…finally… I am Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher. You will see me first and last every day. Do not be late; if I can arrive on time, so can you."

He unzipped the sleeping bag and rose to his full, surprisingly considerable height. From behind the desk, he pulled a suitcase and banged it down on top, opening it to reveal PE uniforms.

"Get changed. You can do introductions later, we're going out to see who gets to stay in my class."

There was a beat of silence before the class screamed, **"WHAT!?"** , but Aizawa was already moving out the door.

Quickly rifling through the suitcase and grabbing the package with his name on it, Hitoshi hurried to go change.

* * *

The Quirk Apprehension Test, as Aizawa called it, was certainly… an adventure. It consisted of the standard middle school fitness tests, but with the additional caveat that they were permitted, and indeed obliged, to use their quirks. The lowest scorer, he warned, would be judged to have zero potential, and expelled on the spot.

Hitoshi wasn't terribly worried. Thanks to his dads' training, he was in pretty good shape; he expected to place high in both the dash and the distance run, and knew he could do reasonably well in the toe-touch and side-steps. The requirement to use his quirk for something, though, would need some consideration. Since his quirk only worked on other people, it would only be potentially applicable in certain events. Either that, or he would have to somehow use it _on_ Eraserhead and instruct the teacher to give him a high mark.

That…was definitely Plan B, Hitoshi decided, glancing at Aizawa-sensei. No doubt Eraserhead knew all his students' quirks, and would just Erase Hitoshi's if he attempted to use it on him.

Using it on one of his peers, however, sounded like it would be acceptable within the rules. Given the events in question, it would probably have to be the ball throw or the grip strength test, although he supposed he _might_ be able to make something work with Uraraka's quirk and the standing long jump…

For most of the test, he was strongly leaning toward Brainwashing Bakugou to throw his baseball, since he didn't really care if Bakugou disliked him or his quirk, but Uraraka's performance in the ball throw decided him. If he wanted to make extra-sure he wasn't last, he would need to use his quirk to follow the rules of the test _and_ have an unimpeachably impressive score in at least one event.

His name was called and he strolled lazily into the circle, where Aizawa-sensei tossed him the softball. He turned to the teacher. "So, by the rules, all I have to do is stay in this circle, right?" he asked. "And you measure the ball by wherever it lands."

Aizawa nodded without speaking, confirming Hitoshi's suspicion that he wouldn't have been able to Brainwash his teacher in the first place. He thought he saw a smirk hidden in the folds of the teacher's scarf, but couldn't be sure. Instead, he turned back to the class.

"Hey, Uraraka-san, is it okay if I use my quirk on you?"

Uraraka blinked. He knew Izuku had told her about his quirk, so she would know roughly what to expect, but it seemed she hadn't figured out why he would ask.

"Um, sure?" she said, smiling nervously.

"Thanks," he grinned, exerting his will, and her face went slack. "Come over here, please."

Uraraka paced obediently into the circle with him, and he took a careful step back to make room for her. He held out the ball.

"Use your quirk on this ball and throw it, please."

He released his quirk as soon as she had done so. She blinked, staring at her own hand for a moment, then turned to him and grinned. "Smart!" she praised, and a knot of tension he hadn't even realized was present suddenly eased. That made her the third person his age, after Izuku and Kaminari, to be honestly okay with his quirk, and it was a comfort he didn't know he still needed to not be looked at like a villain in the making. Even after his adoption, his new middle school cohort had left much to be desired in that regard.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Hitoshi ambled back toward the class and ignored the curious whispers wondering how his quirk worked, since they seemed more interested than frightened.

* * *

As the more space-requiring tests finished, they moved into a gym for the remainder. The rest of the tests finished with no more really interesting occurrences, unless you counted the redhead who sat beside Hitoshi in homeroom enlarging her hands with her quirk and crushing her grip-strength measurer, coming out with a score of 480 kilograms.

As the last test (sit-ups) finished and Aizawa-sensei was fiddling on his tablet calculating their rankings, movement in the corner of his eye caught Hitoshi's attention. Turning his head slightly, he watched the little grape-headed kid, Mineta, sidling toward the door.

Already knowing he wasn't in last place, Hitoshi followed him.

He caught up to the smaller boy in the hallway outside the girls' changing rooms, and in three of his longer strides he quickly blocked the door, which Mineta had been slowly, dramatically reaching for.

"What are you doing?" he demanded flatly.

"What's it look like?" Mineta lisped. "This class is full of sexy girls, it'd practically be a crime not to try to catch a peek!"

"…You're a real piece of shit, aren't you?" Hitoshi drawled. "I thought you wanted to be a hero?"

"Heroes get all the hottest chicks!" he shouted dramatically. "If you're a real man, you know deep down you agree with me!"

"How about no?"

Mineta sneered at him. "Then you're either a cuck or a fag; either way you won't stop me. You don't have the balls."

Hitoshi stared down at the little shit for a moment. Around the corner, he heard the door open again.

"Fine," he said shortly, stepping aside.

Mineta yanked the door open and charged into the locker room, letting it swing shut behind him. Hitoshi took a few loud steps away that he was sure the jerk could hear, then paused when the door closed. A moment later, Kendou and a girl with a Frog quirk he thought was named Asui rounded the corner, with the rest of the girls following.

Kendou frowned, and Hitoshi pressed a finger to his lips, leaning against the wall as non-threateningly as he could.

"What are you doing here, Shinsou-kun?" Hagakure whispered.

"Mineta just snuck into your locker room," he murmured back. "I tried to stop him but he insisted, so let him rot. Hagakure-kun, will you go and get Aizawa-sensei?"

"I'll go with you, ribbit," Asui mumbled. "Thank you, Shinsou-chan."

Hitoshi blinked at the honorific, before deciding to let it go. "That's the only door, right?" he asked of the remaining group.

"Yeah," the pink-skinned Ashido nodded. "And obviously there's no windows or anything."

"And that door only opens outward," Hitoshi let the smirk he'd been repressing finally surface.

Almost immediately, Yaoyorozu reached under the flap of her shirt and withdrew a doorstop she'd obviously just Created with her quirk.

She passed it to Kendou, who expanded her hand to wedge it firmly under the door.

"He already came last in the Test," murmured a grey-haired girl, Yanagi.

"Yeah, Aizawa-sensei looked pissed when he wasn't there at the results announcement!" said Tokage, a perky girl with upturned eyes who'd gotten into UA on recommendation.

"I have a feeling this is the last we'll be seeing of him," mused a girl with short, punk-rock hair, twirling one of her auxiliary-jack earlobes around a finger.

"And nothing of value was lost," deadpanned another girl with dark hair and somewhat hooded eyes, folding her arms. "If Aizawa-sensei didn't need to get in there I'd increase the size of the wedge so it could never move."

The last girl present just nodded, frowning and sweeping long blonde hair behind her ear.

Just then, the door back to the gym around the corner flew open, and Aizawa stormed around the corner with Hagakure and Asui trailing behind him. His furious eyes swept over the group, lingering for a moment on Hitoshi.

"All of you, please wait for me in the gym — I will give all of you a pass to your next class. Ladies, you'll be free to shower and clean up once I'm done taking out the trash. Shinsou-kun, we will be discussing your decision to leave class early, regardless of the reason."

Hitoshi saw more than one of the girls open their mouths in protest, so he said hurriedly, "Yes, sensei."

He felt unaccountably like Izuku in that moment.

* * *

 **A/N: In the original draft of last chapter, there was a 50 point minimum to pass the entrance exam, but upon reflection, I don't actually think that's the case. Instead, I'm guessing they just award villain and rescue points and then cut off after the top 40. Therefore, Izuku's score was great...just not quite enough to get in. The fact that 10th place in canon (Awase Yosetsu) got 56 points hints to me that after 10th, there was a LOT of people with point totals in the 50s (statistically, at least thirty more people with scores higher than 48).**

 **It's harsh, but I don't think it's unreasonable, especially since All Might is one of the judges this time, and he doesn't have the same favoritism for Izuku that he does in canon. If it came down to his vote whether Izuku or another kid got in, I think he would vote the other way, because he likes the Izuku who only knows him as Yagi and doesn't want to see him die.**

 **I'm aware that I'm probably overusing variants on the line 'Never heard that before', but I do like hinting at running jokes between friends. And, I know it's already a cliche to expel M*neta for getting caught doing something gross, but I haven't seen this setup before so hopefully it's fresh enough. Plain and simple, I don't like M*neta, and the fact he's supposed to be lowkey a self-insert for Horikoshi to act gross toward the** ** _underage_** **female characters he's created, and the way everything about how he's written is designed to try to make the audience complicit in his thoughts and attitude is just… Cringe ✕1000. 'This is you, reader,' the narrative seems to say. 'This is what you want, obviously-heterosexual-teenage-male audience. This is who you identify with. This is what you would do in his position.' And frankly…No. Even as a heterosexual male, my answer is no, fuck you very much.**

 **The moral of the story is: Don't be like M*neta, kids. Stay in school, don't do bad drugs, and drink your Respecting Women Juice.**

 **Slight edit 2/1/19: I added Pony to 1-A. Best girl density rising.**

Chat Names Cheat Sheet  
Izuku = small might, kokiri boi  
Shinsou = catnap, mindfreak  
Uraraka = durararaka!  
Kirishima = Hardly Noticeable, Riot in Red  
Hagakure = SueStormStan, who ya gonna call?  
Tokoyami = G-note, Bury Me In Black, Edgar Allan Hoe, Desolation Row


	4. The Good Kind

**A/N: If you'd like to chat, please pop into my Discord server at discord dot gg slash ABfg74C**

 **If you enjoy my work, check out my tumblr at backslashecho dot tumblr dot com.**

* * *

The Good Kind

Izuku sneezed as he exited his second-to-last class of the day, then rubbed his nose embarrassedly. Maybe someone was thinking about him? Then he slumped. It was probably Bakugou insulting him. At least there was only one more class today. Shaking his head, he sat down in Power Loader's classroom and buried himself back in his journal.

Disappointingly, General Studies at UA High School had turned out not all that different from middle school. He was still a quirkless outcast, though at least here the teachers didn't enable the bullying. Maybe because half of them were pro heroes; they mostly taught the Heroics students but some of them cycled out to cover General Studies or Support classes.

It wasn't exactly his dream, but Izuku appreciated that General Studies did overlap with all of the other major areas. He had some business classes, he had some of the non-active Heroics courses, and of course he had some support classes — he wasn't sure why Power Loader-sensei didn't wear a shirt in the classroom, but figured it wasn't his place to ask.

Anyway, he was too busy scribbling in his Hero Analysis Journal #14 - Yuuei Volume 1. He'd transferred Eraserhead's data over from his old notebook and added some more notes based on the handful of things Hitoshi knew that he didn't, and started working on more complex analysis than he'd been capable of at ten. For instance, Eraserhead's 'scarf' was actually a capture weapon, made from carbon fibers and a special metal alloy that he used to entangle and secure villains. Present Mic focused his voice with a Directional Speaker worn around the neck, which nullified the power of his quirk in areas other than in front of him. Power Loader's quirk was just the Iron Claws on his fingertips; everything else the hero had was meticulously-maintained support equipment.

Support Equipment had been part of Izuku's research since he was seven, when he figured he would need all the help he could get without a quirk, just like anyone without a combat-oriented quirk. He couldn't requisition a hero costume before entering the Heroics course, but his design included lightweight armour for his core and simple padding at the shoulders so his movements weren't restricted, light greaves and slightly heavier bracers to help in striking power. It would change his center of balance slightly, though, so he would have to figure out some way to practice having some extra weight on his arms when he practiced his parkour from now on. Maybe he could get some weighted wristbands for training? Or…

Izuku paused as he sensed someone's gaze on him, years of having to be constantly aware of Bakugou's attention giving him giving him a good sense for when he was being watched. This feeling was bolder than the sidelong glances of disgust or pity he got from the prejudiced in UA though; this more gave the impression of someone who was simply very, very intent on him. Looking up slowly, Izuku met a pair of intense golden eyes set in a smiling face.

"Hi!" the girl chirped, grin widening. "You've got some good ideas there, but are you sure you don't want more armouring on the chest and shoulders? Ribs can get broken, you know!"

Izuku blinked. At the distance she was, she shouldn't really be able to make out those kinds of details. "Uh," he said awkwardly. "It's padded for cushioning but it can't be too rigid because I do parkour. I need to be able to move freely."

"But then wouldn't the weight from the heavier gauntlets throw your balance off?" she pressed him. She seemed to be almost trembling in her seat.

"It might, a little," Izuku admitted. "But I would want the extra weight behind my punches and I should be able to adjust once I get used to it. Plus since they go almost up to my elbows they give me an option to block or deflect without as much risk of breaking my wrists or forearms."

She was leaning forward now, her smile starting to look almost manic. "Have you thought about using a shear-thickening fluid that only hardens on impact? It would affect your movement the least and still provide as much protection as traditional body armour."

"But if the fluid shifts even a little out of place, I might as well not be wearing anything," Izuku argued, starting to get over the awkward way the conversation had started, and eager to share his ideas with someone who got excited about things the same way he did. The good kind of enthusiastic, especially compared to, say, Kacchan's enthusiastic punches. "And if it gets hit in a weird way it'll stiffen and upset my flexibility in ways that static armour won't."

"What about Ceratanium inserts instead of static armour, to let you wear more or less protection depending on the situation?" The girl had her own notebook out now, sweeping her pink dreadlocks behind her ear and scribbling frantically. "Then you can just remove one of the plates if it shatters instead of having to replace the whole piece."

"That might work but it sounds like it could get expensive," Izuku bit his lip. "It's not like I can just assume financial success before I even get into Heroics…"

"Nonsense!" the girl yelled. She charged over to his desk and slammed her notebook down half on top of his. "You need more room to move than a standard hero's bodysuit, and it'll suit you better if it's in multiple parts — the pants can have some padding built into the knees and a slot for a plate at the thighs, but the lower-leg armour should be incorporated into the boots; then the pants fall over them so you can surprise people with a shin-kick! And a belt for equipment! Then you have a singlet with your branding and pouches for the armour plates to slot into; those should probably have zippers to make sure the plates don't fall out, and I bet you could disguise them with a clever use of seams and colors to make your brand. And! A fitted coat to cover up your gauntlets in the same way!" She points at the hands of the sketch she had hastily drawn. "The gloves should be synthetic leather, and if you design them carefully you can have plates on the back of the hand that extend up to knuckledusters, but also don't leave a vulnerable gap where they meet the bracer plates at your wrists! And if they're made for you, the forearm pieces can wrap around your ulnaris muscle for defense and attack! The gauntlets' construction should probably be steel instead of ceratanium since you _want_ the extra weight there — they'll have to be replaced more often but since they're a separate piece you won't have to get rid of the jacket when that happens!"

She said all this without pause, and then gasped for breath, which did interesting things to the vest that was right at Izuku's eye level. Regardless, Izuku had a newfound respect for what it must sound like to other people when he started muttering. Rather than annoyed like most people (except Hitoshi) seemed to get with him, he was thrilled seeing it from this outside perspective, and not just because she was attractive and right in his personal space.

Forcing his gaze back to more respectful places, (eyes, look at her eyes, but damn they were pretty too), he smiled. "I think it could use more refining — I'm not sure about trying to do parkour in a jacket — but I think you're on a good track here!"

"It's not a jacket, it's a coat." She blew a raspberry, and shifted her notebook to point at his. "You had a _cape_ on this design!" she pointed out. "That's not exactly convenient for freerunning and bouncing around either!"

"It was only a half-cape!" Izuku defended his sketch. "And it's detachable! _And_ it was only a prototype design! I like the classic heroic look of a cape but I'm practical enough to recognize the possible dangers of getting it caught or giving a villain a handhold."

"A coat would fix all of those problems," she said triumphantly, folding her arms under her bust and inadvertently drawing his eyes again.

He flinched and looked back at the journals again. "You can't argue that a coat wouldn't flap around the same way," he insisted.

She waved her arms in exasperation. "You're picturing some kind of longcoat like Snipe-sensei would wear! That's not that I drew, look!"

She nudged her sketch back under his eyes and leaned over his back, pressing her chest against his shoulder and _oh god was she doing that on purpose!?_ No! Focus!

"The coat you would wear has enough give under the arms that you can raise your hands all the way," she drew a finger down one side of the drawing. "But it only comes down to your hips so you can still reach your belt even if the coat's closed!"

Okay, he had to admit, she made a good point. Plus, long sleeves would not only cover the gauntlets for an element of surprise, they would also cover his skin even if he wore them with regular gloves — long sleeves were practically a necessity in parkour, to avoid giving yourself road rash or worse in the event you botched a jump or a tumble. If it was a sufficiently tough material, it would also serve as the lighter protection he had been considering for his shoulders and upper arms. If it resisted water, even better — doing parkour in the rain was a lot less fun and a lot more dangerous, not to mention really uncomfortable, and he had to imagine hero work would be even worse. He would also have to see if he could make it proof at least temporarily against likely vectors of villains' quirks — fire, ice, electricity, acid; plus he'd need to have an idea of its resistance to regular cutting and piercing attacks. The ceratanium inserts, or maybe in a perfect world he _could_ try the shear-thickening fluid bags, in strategic spots or as a hot-swap, especially if he found himself in a position where he knew what was coming and could plan ahead. The STF wouldn't be a good choice against knives and stabbing weapons, because it relied on the massive concentrated force of a bullet to harden; blades would slit right through and still hit him. Therefore, for general-purpose, the ceratanium would be the better choice — heavier calibers might break the plates and still injure him, but if possible it would be better to dodge higher-caliber bullets anyway. Unless he was standing in front of a civilian, then he might be wishing he'd gone with the STF that day, but the ceratanium should still protect him well enough that he would be able to get back into the fight afterwards anyway, so they really were the better choice overall…

Izuku abruptly realized he'd been muttering for a few minutes and blinked, finding the girl was now basically laying on his back so that she could reach her journal to write again. She looked down at him when he fell silent. "No more?" She almost sounded disappointed. "That was a pretty good impromptu cost/benefit analysis. I think you're right, the solid plates are the way to go. And I know you wanted the armour on your legs to be light, but going over this, since the rest of the costume is designed around safety and combat, what do you think about a steel shank in your boots?"

She flipped several pages back in her journal and indicated the rough blueprints she'd outlined.

"I was working on this design yesterday, I call this baby the Iron Sole!" she pronounced the name in English. "See, they do the same for your kicks that your gauntlets will for punches, and I was toying with a design that would let the toe spring out in a blowback motion, either as a double-tap attack or to reduce the strain on the user's legs."

"That's…" Izuku tried to picture how that would work, and concluded he'd have to see them in action before he could really understand them. "That seems like a really good idea," he said at last. "I've been working a lot of kicks into my fighting style since my sparring partner is like ten centimeters taller than me — using my legs lets me compensate for his longer reach."

"Good thinking!" the girl praised, straightening up at last and grinning like a madwoman. "Legs are usually at least 50% stronger than arms, and I bet since you're Parkour Boy you have good enough balance not to worry about falling when you try to kick someone!"

"Yoga is pretty good for that too," Izuku offered. "As long as we're worried about safety, maybe I should think about a mouthguard."

"Oh!" the girl squealed. "I bet I could build in a gas filter too; something you could wear around your neck or keep on the belt until you need it, then slap it in your mouth like a rebreather! Good thinking!"

"S-sure," Izuku said, before it occurred to him how quiet it was. He looked around, but there was nobody else left in the classroom. "Where is everyone?"

"They left when class ended," the girl said carelessly, closing her notebook and starting to pack up the rest of her things. "Power Loader-sensei finished up while we were talking and everybody left. I'm going to see if I can get into the design workshop!"

She skipped to the door and Izuku followed more slowly. "Um. It was nice to meet you?" He said uncertainly.

The girl froze, then turned slowly to look at him. Her earlier smile was nowhere in evidence. "Really?"

Izuku's brow furrowed in confusion. "Do you mean, was it really nice to meet you?"

She nodded solemnly.

"Yes?" he said. "We didn't exchange names or anything but… It was a nice conversation."

In the blink of an eye, she was in his personal space again, leaning in to stare at him intently. Startled as he was, a part of his mind still noticed that her eyes seemed to have crosshairs in them, which was interesting. Maybe they had something to do with her quirk? Or it might just be a passive mutation from one of her parents' quirks, he supposed. "Are… Does this make us friends?" she asked quietly.

Izuku tilted his head. "If you'd like to be?" he managed finally, not used to anyone besides Hitoshi really being his friend in the meatspace.

It seemed to be the right answer, for the manic grin spread across her face again. "I think I'd like that a lot," she said, still surprisingly soft. She took a step back and bowed stiffly, as if unused to the polite motions. "I'm Hatsume Mei; it's nice to meet you. I'm in the Support course 1-H because I love to build things."

Izuku smiled too; not quite his 1.21 Jiggawatt All Might Smile, but bright and genuine anyway. "Midoriya Izuku. I'm General Studies 1-C right now, but I'm aiming to move up to Heroics after the Sports Festival. It's very nice to meet you, Hatsume-san!"

"I was thinking of using the Sports Festival to show off my babies," Hatsume told him, stroking the cover of her notebook. "You don't need to be all formal with me, though."

"O-okay, Hatsume…-kun?" he tried. She grinned, so he guessed that was acceptable. He checked his phone. "I'm supposed to meet some friends now, and I think some of us are going to hit the gym later, but I'll see you… Whenever we have another class with Support course, I guess?"

"Wait!" she shouted, though he hadn't moved. She snatched his phone and added herself as a contact. "Text me if you have more ideas about your costume! Or! You're trying to get into Heroics! You should download Disjunction and add me; it's secured and it's what all the Heroics kids use because the staff does!"

She tossed his phone back, grinned wide enough to split her face, and dashed away.

Smiling, he glanced at the contact she'd added as he followed her more sedately out of the classroom: **Hatsume Mei - Σｄ** **(⨁** **⨁)**

"Ah, sometimes it's hard to believe I ever had that much energy…" murmured a voice that he hadn't heard in several months.

"Yagi-san!?"

* * *

"I'm not going to waste my time writing a dozen passes to your English class when it's almost over," Aizawa-sensei decided when the students had finished showering and changing, and collectively rejoined him in the gym. "I'll just bring you all by to check off the roll for the day and explain the situation to Present Mic. Now, there's just the matter of your punishment for leaving class early, Shinsou-kun."

"Aizawa-sensei, he was looking out for us!" Hagakure interrupted, bless her invisible heart. "It's not fair to punish Shinsou-kun for stepping in to stop a situation! That's what a hero is supposed to do!"

"I wasn't aware you had been hired as a teacher, Hagakure-kun," Aizawa-sensei said cooly. "Last I checked, it was _my_ job to teach _you_ what a hero is supposed to do."

Hagakure shuffled her feet, but by the cant of her headband, her posture still looked defiant.

"And what wouldn't be fair is to fail to punish someone for breaking the rules," he continued. "It sets a terrible precedent and undermines my authority. What if the next time one of you cuts class early, this comes up as an excuse?"

No one answered.

"What happens if you find yourselves out in the city when a situation occurs, and a civilian gets hurt when you interfere, just because _you_ thought you had a good reason!?" His eyes flashed red with his quirk, and his hair rose in tandem with his powers as his gaze swept across them all.

"I would have done something far worse than just walking out of class if we caught the little gremlin in there," Kodai pointed out flatly. Several other girls nodded. "If you intend to punish Shinsou-san for a minor infraction in the effort of stopping a major one, you ought to punish me as well for the intent and willingness to commit another major one."

"One of several, which only didn't occur because of Shinsou-san's interference in the first place," Jiirou added, her attempt at sounding casual undermined by the tell of playing with one of her earphone jacks again. "He stopped multiple potential incidents, not just one."

"Yeah!" agreed Tsunotori, stomping a hooflike foot and frowning adorably.

Hitoshi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's okay, guys. My dad told me that sometimes you have to choose between following the rules or doing the right thing, and that decision is the difference between a bystander and a hero." He looked his teacher in the eye. "He also said the harder decision was being willing to accept the consequences afterwards instead of running from them, and _that_ was the difference between a vigilante and a pro."

"Wise words," Aizawa-sensei drawled. "It seems you've taken them to heart. Well, then, carry on, there will be no punishment."

"Whaaat?" exclaimed half the girls behind him in unison.

Aizawa-sensei grinned, and it was mildly terrifying. "I wanted to see if you all would protest unfair treatment, and whether Shinsou-kun was willing to try to escape an unfair but legal punishment." The horrible grin widened. "It was a logical ruse to learn how you would all react!"

Almost everyone was staring incredulously, but Hitoshi just started laughing. .

"Well," Aizawa-sensei called from the door. "Are you going to come be counted for your English class or not? If you're not with me when I get there, I'm not making another excuse to Present Mic — I'll just let him mark you as skipping."

They all scrambled to grab their bags and follow.

"Did you know he would say that, Shinsou-chan?" came a voice beside Hitoshi as they walked.

He blinked, and glanced down at Asui. "No. I wasn't even thinking about the fact that I left class when I did it, honestly, but…" He scratched his cheek. "I figured I'd get detention or something."

"I think that's pretty heroic, Shinsou-kun!" Uraraka informed him, bouncing up on Asui's other side. She punched the air enthusiastically. "No wonder Deku's your friend!"

"Best friend," Hitoshi rubbed his neck, feeling himself smiling involuntarily. It probably looked awkward, because sometimes he still had trouble not thinking of himself as a villain in the making, but… Nothing chased those thoughts away like his best friend.

"Are you gonna meet him after school?" Uraraka asked as they entered the main school building.

"Ah, maybe?" Hitoshi said. "I haven't messaged the group since lunchtime, but I think he and Kirishima-kun were going to hit the gym after class, so I might see him before then?"

"Ooooh, hang on!" interrupted a new voice. Hitoshi glanced to his right. Ashido. "Are you one of the people from that group that nudged him into reinventing himself a couple years ago?"

Hitoshi nodded. "Me, and Zukkun, and uh, Hagakure-kun and Tokoyami-kun have been chatting since middle school." He thought back on the event she was likely referring to — probably the summer after their second year, when Kirishima had changed his hair and his handle. "Are you the girl he was all impressed by, and so nervous about talking to?"

Ashido blushed immediately. "When you say it like that it sounds like he had a crush on me."

"Ah, no, sorry," Hitoshi said hurriedly. He opened his mouth to point out that Kirishima was gay, but paused. Was his friend out publicly? Kirishima never had a problem joking about it in the chat, but that didn't necessarily translate into being comfortable with it in meatspace. Shit, he'd have to ask later. He changed what he was going to say instead. "He said it was more of a squish? He thought you were cool and he really wanted to be your friend."

"He said that!?" Ashido demanded. "Gosh, what a softie!"

"Ironic, considering his quirk," Hitoshi deadpanned, and Ashido laughed.

"Right!? Hey, have you got room for one more to hang out? Any friend of Kirishima-kun's I want to meet!"

Hitoshi shrugged, glancing at Aizawa-sensei and pulling out his phone. He fired off a message to the group and put it back away. "I told him to meet us in one of the study halls on this floor. We can hang out for a little while before they go work out."

"Think they'd mind another workout buddy?" Uraraka asked hesitantly.

"Probably not," Hitoshi answered immediately. "Those two are both super excited at being able to use the gym. If anything you'll be saving me. I hate lifting."

"More of a runner?" Asui asked, finger to her chin in what he was coming to recognize was a very characteristic gesture.

"Oh, I hate running too," Hitoshi said flatly. "But yes, you're correct."

That drew some laughs, and it suddenly struck Hitoshi that he was making casual conversation with people his own age. He was making friends other than Izuku, _without_ Izuku there to play buffer. It was exhausting, but… It was a good kind of exhausting.

* * *

"I haven't seen you in forever, Yagi-san!"

"Ah, yes, I'm sorry to have disappeared on you, my boy, but preparing for the new year's classes took up… a lot of time and energy," the cornstalk man said, smiling tiredly. "It is good to see you, though. I see you got into UA like you planned."

Izuku flushed. "Not quite like I planned," he mumbled. "I'm only in General Studies right now — I didn't get enough points to qualify for Heroics. But I'm going to work really hard and do my best in the Sports Festival; I've heard sometimes they move students up if they perform well and show they're really dedicated to becoming a Hero!" He punched a fist into his other hand enthusiastically.

Yagi's eyes widened. "I'd forgotten about that rule," he admitted. "I don't think it's been exercised in… perhaps fifteen years?"

"My friend's dad told me about it," Izuku said. "I've mentioned Hicchan before, I think."

"Yes, indeed, my boy; I remember your friend," Yagi smiled.

"Ah, but what are you doing here, Yagi-san?" Izuku asked suddenly. "Wait… You said you were preparing for classes. You're a teacher? Here!?"

Yagi coughed at Izuku's sudden enthusiasm, and pulled a handkerchief from a pocket of his ill-fitting suit to dab at the blood on his lips. "Easy, young Midoriya. I only started teaching this year, though I moved back to Musutafu a few years ago to scout the city out before All Might came to teach classes here."

"Ah, I keep trying to forget that All Might is teaching in the building," Izuku admitted. "I get so excited that I could possibly bump into him, it's hard to focus on anything else."

"Maybe I'll be able to introduce you sometime, young Midoriya," Yagi said, with a secretive smile.

"Oh gosh, I think I'd die," Izuku stammered, blushing crimson. "I just. I know everybody looks up to All Might but he's really my personal hero. I know I've told you before, but I'm going to become a hero so I can be just like him." Trying his best to force the blush down, Izuku changed the subject. "What are you teaching, Yagi– ah, Yagi-sensei?"

"I'm covering the General Studies variants of the classes All Might teaches," the skeletal man explained. "He was brought in to teach Foundational Hero Studies to the Heroics course, so I'm handling the modern history of the Hero industry for the students less likely to interact with the industry directly."

"Ohhh!" Izuku pounded a hammerfist onto his palm this time. "That makes sense! You'd have a great insider's perspective from working in All Might's hero agency!"

"Precisely," he gave a thin smile. "Were you headed somewhere, my boy?"

"Ah, yes, I'm supposed to meet some friends from the Hero course on the second floor, and then I think we're going to the gym." He fished out his phone again and confirmed, but didn't want to message back in the middle of a conversation.

"Well, don't let this old man keep you, my boy," Yagi said, waving him on his way. "I expect I'll see you in my class sometime this week, but let me wish you best of luck in the Sports Festival right now. It's only a few weeks away."

Izuku grinned, and Yagi seemed to come to a decision.

"If you do place well, I'll see about that introduction to All Might," he promised. "I've said it before, but I do think he would like you, young Midoriya. You have a good heart."

Breathing heavily, Izuku gave Yagi the best thumbs-up he was capable of at the moment, and dashed away, trying not to start happy-crying. With that kind of reward promised, he was more determined than ever to win the Sports Festival!

* * *

Calmer now, Izuku double-checked the room number Hitoshi had texted him. With one last deep breath, he walked through the door to the study hall that they were supposed to hang out in. There were already half a dozen people inside, but only two he didn't know. The others were Hitoshi, Uraraka, Kirishima, and… Bakugou.

"Oh, what the fuck, this is who we're waiting for?" Bakugou complained, a scowl twisting his face as soon as he caught sight of Izuku. "Fuck this, I'm not hanging out with fucking Deku." He shoved to his feet so quickly his chair fell over.

"I guess you already know him, Bakugou-chan?" asked a girl who looked a great deal like a frog, pressing a finger to her chin.

"Ah, Kacchan and I were childhood playmates," Izuku laughed awkwardly. He really didn't want to get into his complicated relationship with Bakugou at the moment.

"Our fucking moms were fucking friends, that's all." Bakugou scoffed. "And don't fucking call me that, either of you!"

Izuku spread his arms, as if to say, _what can you do?_ "It's nice to meet you all, anyway. I'm hoping we'll be classmates soon!"

"Whatever, Deku, you're wasting your time and mine," Bakugou growled, trying to exit the room and finding his path blocked by a girl with pink skin and hair. "Move it, Raccoon Eyes!"

The girl rolled her eyes (they were yellow with black sclerae, which looked super cool in Izuku's opinion), but stepped aside to allow Bakugou to stomp past her.

Sighing, Kirishima waved awkwardly to Izuku and Hitoshi as he followed. "I'll meet you at the gym later, Midoriya-kun?" Izuku gave him a thumbs-up.

As the door slammed behind them, the pink-skinned girl growled, "Honestly, I guess I should just be grateful he didn't shove me out of the way."

There was a general murmur of agreement, but Izuku shook his head. "Kacchan is a lot of things, but he's definitely a feminist. He wouldn't put his hands on you without permission."

Everyone blinked at him. Hitoshi cuffed his shoulder. "Even if that's true, it doesn't excuse the way he treats you. He still puts his hands on _you_ without permission. It's still 'not okay' when it happens to you!"

Izuku shrugged, avoiding his eyes.

Hitoshi huffed in irritation, dragging him to the chair that Bakugou had abandoned and introducing him to the new faces — the pink girl was Ashido, and the froglike girl was Asui.

"Nice to meet you, Ashido-san, Asui-san."

"Call me Tsuyu-chan, yes?" Asui replied. "You too, Shinsou-chan."

Hitoshi shrugged. "Okay, Tsuyu-chan. But fair warning, Zukkun is pretty bad at being casual with other people."

Uraraka tilted her head, frowning a little at Izuku. "Having gotten to know Bakugou a bit better today… Unfortunately…"

"You have my sympathies," Izuku and Hitoshi assured her at once, and she laughed.

"Anyway," she continued, stifling giggles. "Having gotten to know him better, why do you let him call you Deku? He means it like, dekunobou, 'blockhead', doesn't he?"

Izuku shrugged again, feeling self-conscious. "He came up with it in the first place, as an alternate reading of my name." He knew he was blushing under the group's scrutiny. "It's just a word. I used to really hate it, but… I guess it did help bring me here, in a way."

Hitoshi blinked, never having heard this justification. "Amor fati, then?"

"Eh? What's that?" Ashido scratched her head behind her horns.

"It comes from a German philosopher, it means 'love of fate'," Hitoshi lectured briefly. "The idea is that everything that happens in one's life, including suffering and loss, should be considered as overall good. Or, at the very least, considered as _necessary_ , in that they are among the facts of one's life and existence, so they are always necessarily there whether one likes them or not. As an example, it could mean loving your scars, because they mean you survived whatever gave them to you."

"Then, yeah, I guess," Izuku said slowly. "I think there've been times in my life when I would have considered giving up, if not for Kacchan, indirectly. I might not have made it into UA at all if I wasn't so determined to prove him wrong. I mean, how many Heroics students do you know that are Quirkless? And if I was already having a bad day and he came after me, then it would get to me worse and I'd start wondering if he was right. I couldn't even stop him from bullying me, how could I fight villains? But then I'd think, 'since when do I listen to Kacchan?', and that would help me pick myself back up."

Asui made a croaking in her throat. No one mentioned it.

"It feels gross to say, but it was easier for the few times he tried bullying other people. I didn't have to question what was the right thing to do, then. I just had to stand in his way." He felt a smile start to steal over his face on instinct, just thinking about those times.

Uraraka had her face in her hands. She looked mortified. "You never told me all that!" she groaned. "I've been calling you the same nickname as your childhood bully all this time!"

Izuku scratched his still-flushed cheek. "I… I liked it, when you said it. Hearing it from him abruptly right after the Entrance Exam was… Not fun. But you said you thought it was cute, that you liked it, that it inspired you. How could I hate that? Inspiring people like that is what a hero would do!" He smiled widely.

He thought he heard Hitoshi whisper "One point twenty-one jiggawatts," but Izuku ignored him, because Uraraka was at least peeking through her fingers.

Ashido looked a little misty-eyed, but her voice was steady. "Isn't Kirishima-kun your friend too? Are you okay with him hanging out with someone that hates you?"

"I'm not really the keeper of either of them," Izuku said, running his fingers through his hair. "Kirishima-kun is a good friend and a really nice person. If he wants to be friends with Kacchan, that's up to him. He's just not going to be able to hang out with both of us together."

"Are you really okay with him hanging around your bully, Midoriya-chan?" Asui asked bluntly. "It's not like Bakugou is a nice person. Or a good one, apparently."

"Um," Izuku said awkwardly, blushing redder than ever. This… had to be the first time he'd heard anyone other than Hitoshi talking shit about Bakugou. And Hitoshi was Izuku's best friend so it barely counted. "The thing is, I think he is a good person? Or, I mean-" he hurried to clarify at the noises of disbelief from everyone around him. "I think he _can_ be a good person! He just kind of, um. Really sucks at it."

Uraraka giggled. "You're surprisingly savage when you're throwing shade, Deku."

Though he blushed even deeper, Izuku managed a grin at hearing the name from her. "I guess, if you want to see it my way… We were really friends once, a long time ago, before either of our quirks developed. We would play together in the woods or at each others' houses and we both loved Heroes. We both especially loved All Might. Which, I know every kid loves the Symbol of Peace, but I think it felt different for us. We didn't just want to be heroes, we wanted to be the next All Might! The new Symbol of Peace, the new World's Strongest, who would be a hero without fear, who would save people with a smile, who everyone could look up to and feel safe."

Izuku poked his fingers together for a moment, because this was kind of an intimate topic for him.

"When we were about four, Kacchan got his quirk. His dad's sweat is corrosive and his mom can secrete glycerol from her hands, so they combined and consequently Kacchan sweats and secretes nitroglycerin–"

Uraraka pounded a fist into her hand. "So that's how the explosions work!"

Izuku nodded. "It's also why he smells like caramel."

Ashido's eyes widened. "So _that's_ why the gym smelled like a sweetshop today! I thought I was going crazy!"

"Anyway," Izuku continued, "everyone was impressed with his powerful quirk; our classmates, our teachers, everyone told him that he was going to be great, that he had the power to be a great hero. Meanwhile, my quirk…never showed up."

Hitoshi put a hand on his shoulder. Izuku shuddered very slightly, but continued smoothly.

"Anyway, I think his reasons shifted a little as he got older, but he still wanted to be like All Might. He wants to surpass All Might and be the greatest hero. And… he knows that being a hero means saving people. He just makes everything a competition, including being a hero, and therefore anyone striving for the same goal is obviously trying to be better than him, see?"

The girls nodded slowly. That fit with her observations of Bakugou so far.

"And here I was; Quirkless, so I was weak, so I was automatically lesser than him. So me wanting the same thing as him — to be a hero, to be like All Might — that's obviously an 'insult' to him. He's stronger than me, therefore he's better than me, therefore having the same dream means I'm 'looking down on him'."

Ashido sputtered. "Wh-What? Wait. What? But we all want to be heroes here. What the fuck?"

Izuku laughed softly "You know by now that he sees everyone around him as a challenge, right? Everybody he meets, he compares his power against theirs, and if he wins then they're worth nothing. Anybody that's stronger than him is an obstacle to be surmounted, and everyone weaker is just an extra in the story about him; a pebble on the side of the road he's walking down toward his goal. But because we knew each other as kids, Kacchan never managed to get rid of me, at first because I was following around my only 'friend', and later because I kept stopping him from bullying other kids. He thought he understood me, but by constantly standing up to him, I broke the little box he mentally put me in. Because according to every rule he knew, 'Quirkless Deku' couldn't possibly stand up to powerful Kacchan, see? So every time I got in his way, or escaped when he tried to put me 'back in my place', it made him angry because I wasn't playing along, and he couldn't fit me into his view of the world. He didn't understand, and Kacchan's reaction to everything he doesn't understand is anger."

"And you're sure he wants to be a hero?" Asui asked, just as bluntly as before. "Because that doesn't sound like a hero's actions or motivation to me, ribbit."

Izuku spread his hands helplessly again. The handful of positive impressions he had of Bakugou came more from gut feelings than observable behaviors. "He probably needs a therapist to work through his anger issues," he allowed. "But that doesn't mean he can't be a hero. The good kind of hero. I don't believe anybody can't become a hero, if they want to be!"

He smiled when Hitoshi's hand suddenly squeezed tight, and ignored the whispered "Great Scott!" as his friend reacted to the smile again.

"That's a very interesting insight," said a new voice, though Izuku somewhat recognized it. As he looked around, a giant yellow caterpillar with the face of a man rolled into view — no, wait, it was Eraserhead…in a sleeping bag?

"Aizawa-sensei!?" the rest of the group, minus Hitoshi, squawked in shock.

"How long have you been here?" Ashido asked, eyes wide.

"I was taking a nap when you arrived. You were being quiet, so I let it be. Until Bakugou stormed out and woke me up." His exhausted eyes moved back to Izuku. "You have an overdeveloped sense of empathy," he pronounced, "Not unlike a certain hero I could name. Something tells me if I see you in my class, you're going to end up being a problem child."

The swollen eyes slid to Hitoshi.

"You're already friends with a problem child."

"What?" Izuku glanced at Hitoshi, wondering what that could mean, but Hitoshi wouldn't meet his eyes. "Hicchan, it's the first day, what did you _do_ already!?"

Hitoshi feigned deafness, but the three girls present eagerly told Izuku how Hitoshi had prevented them from being spied on in the locker room, and how the cretin responsible had been kicked out of the school. As the story moved on to Eraserhead's bluff to punish Hitoshi, Izuku chanced another glance toward him, but the man had rolled over to face the wall and by all appearances gone back to sleep.

The conversation slowly eased up again, and the five chatted comfortably until it was time for Izuku to leave for the gym, Uraraka accompanying him. He liked Hitoshi's Heroics course friends, and found himself with a spring in his step as he looked forward to the Sports Festival more than ever.

He hadn't failed to notice, after all, that just like he had mentioned in the video from months before, Eraserhead had already expelled a student from his class.

* * *

The weeks leading up to the Sports Festival passed quickly, with the only events of note being a mild panic when the press somehow gained entrance to the school grounds despite the security at the gates, and Izuku having a chance meeting with another teacher.

"Young Midoriya! That is you, is it not, young man?"

It didn't help his anxiety that the teacher in question happened to be All Might.

"A-ah! Yes! I-it's. It's nice to m-meet you, sir!" he stammered, trying with all his focus to not pass out in front of his idol.

"The pleasure is mine!" the Number One Hero boomed, the bass of his voice practically rattling Izuku's ribs. He crouched to put himself more on Izuku's level, since he was more than half a meter taller. "I've been looking for you for several days, young Midoriya!"

And the struggle to stay conscious just got harder. _All Might was looking for_ _ **him**_ _!?_ "Wh-why?" he managed to whisper after a moment's effort.

"Why, because I wish to make a request of you, my boy!" a tiny part of Izuku's mind registered that All Might's friendly address was a lot like Yagi-sensei's, though a good few decibels louder.

He wondered if Yagi-sensei had picked it up from working with All Might.

"As you will no doubt recall, I recorded you a welcome to UA thanks to your excellent score on the Entrance Exam. Between the perfect written test, and scoring more Rescue Points than anyone in the history of our fine establishment, you are undoubtedly the good kind of student, that we are proud to have. Therefore, UA would like you to read your class' commencement speech at the Sports Festival on Monday!"

* * *

 **A/N: This kinda turned into mostly fluff and filler. I was intending to move things along to the Sports Festival in this chapter, but then Mei took control of the narrative for the first third and wouldn't let go, so instead things get to feel a bit less rushed as we decompress the first day. I'm honestly surprised there's no chat portion this time around. Oh well.**

 **Ceratanium ('ceramic titanium') is the miracle metal from the Megaman franchise, though a Swiss company also filed a patent for such a material in 2017. The real-world material is proprietary and mostly used for watches, so I can't hazard much of a guess as to its actual effectiveness as body armour; if it bugs you, pretend I'm talking about the fictional one from Megaman. Also, the ulnaris muscle is the one on the outside of the forearm, in line with the pinky finger.**

 **Hitoshi named the '1.21 Jiggawatt All Might Smile'. It's pronounced 'jiggawatt' because, and I quote, 'That's how Doc Brown said it.' I probably made up the idea that General Studies kids have classes with other courses or teachers, but shut up and enjoy the character interactions.**

 **Disjunction is my Bland Name Product for Hero Discord. In-universe it's called that because it's an asynchronous chat program (meaning you don't necessarily have to be online at the same time as someone else to see their message). Out of universe, it's called that mostly for the pun. Though, as a fun fact, Disjunction is an 8th level Translocations spell in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup — for a few turns, it forcibly blinks or teleports monsters that are near you to be less near you.**

 **I also linked some fanart inline on the AO3 version of this story (at the mention of Hitoshi's awkward smile). I DID NOT DRAW IT. Just dropped a link to what I was picturing when I wrote that scene; please give credit to the artist mapleleauf on Tumblr.**

 **Slight edit 2/1/19: I added Pony to 1-A. Best girl density rising.**

Chat Names Cheat Sheet  
Izuku = small might, kokiri boi  
Shinsou = catnap, mindfreak  
Uraraka = durararaka!  
Kirishima = Hardly Noticeable, Riot in Red  
Hagakure = SueStormStan, who ya gonna call?  
Tokoyami = G-note, Bury Me In Black, Edgar Allan Hoe, Desolation Row


	5. What Are Friends For?

**A/N: If you'd like to chat, please pop into my Discord server at discord dot gg slash ABfg74C**

 **If you enjoy my work, check out my tumblr at backslashecho dot tumblr dot com.**

* * *

What Are Friends For?

"I know we can count on you, young Midoriya!"

Izuku was pretty sure he wasn't breathing.

There was a loud beep, and All Might carefully took a phone from his pocket, holding it gingerly between two enormous fingers. "Ah, a hero's work is never done! I hope to speak with you again soon, young Midoriya!"

Returning the phone to his pocket, All Might dashed away, leaving an errant breeze behind him and several girls holding their skirts down out of habit, though the wind didn't seem _that_ strong.

Izuku's world was spinning.

Then his vision started narrowing and it occurred to him that his lungs were burning.

Oh. Yeah. He'd definitely stopped breathing. That was. Something he should probably fix.

He gasped, and staggered over to a nearby bench.

He just talked to All Might.

All Might just talked to him.

 _All Might wanted to talk to him again soon._

 _ **All Might knew his name.**_

* * *

 _kokiri boi - 'UA? More like Yuu-eyyyyy!'_

‹kokiri boi› hshshshs

‹kokiri boi› asdagfdlksfaks

‹kokiri boi› fiadpaivnbuyfbBIOUB

‹durararaka!› um,

‹kokiri boi› SUNGFDSFLKSDJJHYTVRRTCE

‹durararaka!› is Deku okay?

‹kokiri boi› SDUKUGNUfdsgaethhhshshs

‹who ya gonna call› Oh mannn… Where's Shinsou-kun when you need him? ┴┬┴┤︵･`)ง

‹Desolation Row› He got into an altercation with Bakugou. Kirishima-kun was attempting to separate them, but Aizawa-sensei and All Might intervened.

‹kokiri boi› irutXVNJCLSIDF

‹durararaka!› that did not help to calm him down…

‹who ya gonna call› What happened? (๑•﹏•)

‹Desolation Row› Bakugou was grumbling about how he wanted to be left alone so he could be the very best like no one ever was, or some such.

‹durararaka!› omg

‹who ya gonna call› Toko-kun pls I'm dying ｡ﾟ(*≧ヮ≦)ﾟ｡

‹Desolation Row› I believe Bakugou then noticed Shinsou-kun rolling his eyes at the former's dramatics, or else there was some interaction I missed.

‹Desolation Row› Bakugou slammed his hands onto Shinsou-kun's desk, scorching it with explosions and asking quite insistently 'what in the hell some ugly damn extra with eggplant hair and a face like Minna no Tabo' found so funny.

‹durararaka!› OMG I'M WHEEZING

‹durararaka!› Bakugou knows Sanrio characters?

‹Desolation Row› Shinsou-kun studied him dispassionately for a moment. Then, seeming to come to a conclusion, he calmly replied, "Drop dead," and put his head down on the desk.

‹Desolation Row› Bakugou took this… poorly.

‹Desolation Row› Kirishima-kun grabbed Bakugou in a full nelson, but even so I thought I might have to intervene before the explosions suddenly stopped. Aizawa-sensei had erased his quirk, and a moment later wrapped him up in his capture weapon.

‹Desolation Row› He fiddled with his phone, and a moment later All Might appeared. Aizawa-sensei texted him something else and passed Bakugou into All Might's custody. He informed Kirishima-kun to report to Yamada-sensei for detention. Then Aizawa-sensei dragged Shinsou-kun away by the ear.

‹who ya gonna call› Ouch! ヽ(illﾟдﾟ)ﾉ

‹Desolation Row› All that I heard him say as they left was 'You should have known how he would react to that'. Which… He's not wrong. Shinsou-kun absolutely knew how Bakugou would react.

‹durararaka!› so you think Shinsou-kun goaded Bakugou on purpose?

‹who ya gonna call› I mean… Shin-kun is kind of too smart not to know better. He's almost as smart as Mido. (・ω・｀)

‹durararaka!› yeah?

‹who ya gonna call› Yeah, Urara-kun! Our boys are as sharp as knives! （*＾ワ ＾*）

‹Desolation Row› Albeit with a death wish for taunting Bakugou…

‹mindfreak› i lived bitch

‹mindfreak› + tokoyami is also like a knife

‹mindfreak› edgy

‹Desolation Row› I came here to revel in the dark, and I am honestly feeling so at home right now.

‹mindfreak› whatre friends for

‹who ya gonna call› Σ(゜゜) Shin-kun! Scroll up, we need you to translate Mido's keyboard smashes!

‹mindfreak› k sec

‹mindfreak› wow okay

‹who ya gonna call› What does it meannnn? (=o=;)

‹mindfreak› izuku machine **B** roke

‹durararaka!› i don't understand the B meme and at this point i'm too afraid to ask

‹mindfreak› thats valid

‹mindfreak› ok how bout this

‹mindfreak› izuku dot exe has stopped responding

‹durararaka!› so we still don't know what happened?

‹mindfreak› not til he recovers enough to tell us

‹kokiri boi› ALLMIGHTKNOWSMYNAME

‹mindfreak› yeah thatd do it

‹kokiri boi› A

‹mindfreak› god what a tangible fuckin mood

‹who ya gonna call› Same worm! (｀・ω・´)

‹Desolation Row› Oh, hat?

‹kokiri boi› HE WANTS ME TO GIVE A SPEECH WHAT DO I HECKING DO

‹mindfreak› what speech

‹kokiri boi› THE COMMENCEMENT SPEECH AT THE SPORTS FESTIVAL

‹kokiri boi› AND THE ATHLETE'S OATH

‹who ya gonna call› ! Mido that's so cool tho! （≧∇≦）ъ

‹mindfreak› i dont think a non heroics student has given that oath since

‹mindfreak› ever

‹kokiri boi› WHYYYYY THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT MEEEEE

‹mindfreak› oi

‹mindfreak› thats my best friend ur talking shit about

‹mindfreak› u take tht back or else meet me in the fuckin pit

‹durararaka!› is that what you told Bakugou? ヽ༼ ͠° ͟ل͜ ͠° ༽ﾉ

‹kokiri boi› wait Hicchan did you intentionally pick a fight with Kacchan?

‹mindfreak› gotta blast

‹kokiri boi› wAIT GET BACK HERE

‹mindfreak› ~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

* * *

Since he didn't know where Hitoshi was and was well aware he stood no chance of catching him with a head start, Izuku didn't bother looking for him. He could squeeze the story out of one of the others later, or see if there were hints in the chat that he'd missed on account of hyperventilating. In the meantime, he was on his way to the Support workshop, where Hatsume had texted him cryptically to meet her for 'final adjustments'.

He paused outside the door, unsure if he should just enter. What if he interrupted building something? He decided to knock instead. After a moment, the door swung inward to reveal a claw that belonged on construction equipment.

"Ah, Power Loade-! I mean, Majima-sensei!"

The man huffed a laugh. "'Power Loader-sensei' is fine, kid. Didja need something?"

"Ah, um, I was supposed to meet Hatsume-san here-"

"There ya are!" He was cut off by Hatsume's abrupt appearance as she ducked under Power Loader's outstretched arm. She was wearing a simple tank top and cargo shorts, with a pair of goggles pushed up on her forehead. "I've toldja not ta be all formal with me, yeah?" She grabbed Izuku's hand and dragged him inside, leaving a chuckling Power Loader to shut the door behind them.

Hatsume pulled Izuku halfway through the workshop and over to a corner. "Hatsume-kun, I can walk!" he protested, but she didn't let go until she stood him where she wanted him.

Whereupon she immediately put her hands on his shoulders and started feeling his arms, biceps, pectorals, and abs.

Izuku froze. "H-HATSUME-KUN!?"

"Ehh? Wow, it's hard ta see through yer uniform, but yer pretty built!" she said offhandedly, patting down his hips.

Power Loader caught her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her off of Izuku, who was beginning to resemble a tomato. "Hatsume-kun, that's not appropriate."

She wriggled in his grip. "But senseiiii I'm jus' tryin' ta get his measurements fer his costume!"

Power Loader set her down gently. "He's not in Heroics, Hatsume-kun. I know all my students and this one's in the General Studies class with you."

Izuku ducked his head in embarrassment, mostly at being recognized by someone he looked up to as a pro hero, though a part of him was still reeling from being felt up by a cute girl. "I'm, uh, planning to test into Heroics at the Sports Festival," he mumbled.

Power Loader paused. "Ahhh," he said. "Like Eraser did, back in the day? Well, good luck to you, kid, but regardless-" he turned his attention back to Mei, who had already dashed away and was bent over a bench. "-He can't have a hero costume made without approval from a design agency, and he can't get the request form to requisition one without being in Heroics. It won't get approved."

"But!" Mei cried, whipping around and gesturing at the teacher with the boot in her hand. "Non-Heroics students c'n submit papers ta use support equipment!"

"They can _request_ to use support equipment," Power Loader stressed, "If they can demonstrate a need and the ability to handle it safely." He snatched the boot from Mei and held it up to his eyes. "I've seen your blueprints for boots; the specs you estimated would rip his legs off no matter how strong he is."

Mei kicked the leg of the table, looking mutinous. "I didn' have time ta calibrate th' pneumatics fer th' Iron Soles." Then she glared at her teacher, pouting. "Those're jus' regular steel-shanked boots. An' these-" she brandished a pair of bracers attached to fingerless gloves, "-don' have any knuckledusters like I'm gonna put on th' finished versions. They're jus' fer support an' protection!"

Power Loader lowered the boot slowly, looking at Mei's reddened, puffed-out cheeks. He glanced at Izuku, who was flabbergasted. Hatsume had made boots and bracers for him, for the Sports Festival?

"And I suppose the fact that they both have your logo is just a happy coincidence?" Power Loader drawled, tapping a golden sun cross on the toe of the boots that Izuku also noticed on the backs of the bracers. It looked a lot like Mei's eyes, he thought.

Hatsume flushed a little. "Any inventor would put her mark on somethin' she made!" she insisted. "I've got way more babies ta show off at th' Festival too, ya know, but-" the blush deepened and she glanced away from Izuku. "I kep' those simple so's no one could say ya relied on equipment ta carry ya when ya won."

Power Loader opened his mouth, but Izuku finally spoke up. "You… Think I'm going to win, Hatsume-kun?"

Mei blinked but met his gaze. "Don' ya?"

"I mean, I want to!" Izuku stammered. "I'm going to try my best, but… I've met most of Class A at this point, since my best friend is in there and that's where I'm aiming for, and a lot of them are really strong. Even with equipment carrying me, I'm not sure I'll even make it to the final round." He scratched his head awkwardly. "But…" he shut his eyes, and when he opened them he gave her a fierce smile. "I do promise to give it my all! I'm going to do the best I can, and if it's allowed I'll do it with the equipment you made me!"

Hatsume's eyes sparkled, and her own characteristic maniacal grin returned. "Heck yeah ya are! Now here, I didn' put anythin' special in either of 'em like I said, but they should be tough enough that ya don't have ta worry about strikin' or blockin'! Here!" She darted forward and shoved the bracers into his hands. "Try 'em on so I c'n see if I need ta adjust 'em, an' then we'll go find th' papers ya need. Sensei, he'll need tha' boot back!"

As she dashed away again, presumably to find the other boot, Power Loader stepped over to offer Izuku the one in his hand. "She's spent almost every waking moment here outside of school hours," he told Izuku softly.

Izuku glanced up curiously.

"I thought she was just making things for the festival in the limited time she had, and I'm sure that was most of it, but… It's nice to see she made something for a friend." He passed Izuku the boot, and spoke louder. "Honestly, I half-expected her to demand a sponsorship deal in exchange for what she made you." This was clearly intended for Mei to overhear, because she scoffed at his teasing tone.

"Sensei! I wouldn' do tha' ta a frien'!" she cried, whipping around and waving the other boot angrily.

"But to a stranger?" Power Loader asked pointedly.

Mei didn't reply, instead pushing Izuku into a chair and yanking off his school shoes so she could force the boot onto his foot. "Yessss! Shoe size was righ' on target! Jus' lucky for me I c'n widen the top ta fit yer calves…" She trailed off into mutters, prodding at his gastrocnemius muscle.

The bracers, likewise, fit fairly well and strapped into place, with what he thought was hardened leather and some sort of boning that was probably a type of plastic, given that it resisted impact but still curved easily around his arm. It sat where there would one day be metal given his and Hatsume's sketches, but he thought this was probably a better choice for now, given that the Sports Festival was supposed to be a friendly competition. It was one thing to consider gearing himself up with knuckledusters to fight villains, but quite another to use such a thing on schoolmates. Especially since he wanted to join their class; he had a feeling that giving them concussions and broken bones was probably not a good way to endear himself to them once he got into the class. And while the boots were a little heavier than he was used to thanks to the steel shank, the soles themselves were still rubber, so he could still kick without feeling guilty, and step on potentially hazardous terrain (or opponents) without having to worry about getting stabbed in the foot. The golden-crosshair brand mark was more than fine, considering he didn't have any real branding himself. He wasn't even a hero yet, so he didn't mind doing a bit of advertising for a friend, and-

"Oh, help us, there's two of you," said Power Loader, and Izuku realized he'd been muttering again. He ducked his head, but the teacher just patted him on the shoulder. "Don't let it bother you, this one's just as bad if you let her get going about something she's working on."

"Tha's how we met!" Mei exclaimed, bouncing up from where she had tied Izuku's boots. "It was after yer firs' class, even, Sensei!"

"Hatsume-kun, I'm glad you've made a friend, but you've been in here from the last bell to sundown every day for two weeks. Go help Midoriya-kun get the papers he'll need to bring that equipment into the sports festival, and then _go home_." Mei let out a long, dramatic groan, but Power Loader was unmoved. "The Sports Festival is right after the weekend. Don't let me catch you back in here until it's over."

"Fiiiiiiiiiiine!" she grumbled, snatching up her backpack from beside the workbench and stuffing her journals into it. "But ya can' stop progress fer-ever, Sensei!"

Power Loader just smirked and waved them out of the Development Studio.

As they walked toward the office, Izuku holding his school shoes in one hand and the bracers in the other as he broke in his new boots, he said, "I really didn't expect you to make me anything, Hatsume-kun, but thank you. These guards seem like just the thing to keep me safe and give me that extra boost to win the Festival."

"A capable designer is one who can live up to the client's hopes in one go!" Mei pronounced, grinning and polishing her bicep. Her accent seemed to have retreated as they left the studio for the regular school hallways. Izuku was curious, but thought it might be rude to ask about, so he let it go, casting about for a new subject instead.

"All Might asked me to give the Commencement Speech on Monday," he said, ducking his head again. "I know the Athlete's Oath by heart, but I have no idea what else to say."

They had reached the office by now, and Mei was digging through the top drawer of a filing cabinet labeled _Support Requests_. "Eh, just scribble something down over the weekend. Look at it this way, if you win, nobody will be thinking about your speech, and if you don't, nobody will be thinking about your speech!"

Izuku frowned. "That… Shouldn't be comforting but it actually kind of is," he said. Thanks, Hatsume-kun."

She turned around, grinning, and held out the forms he would need to request his new gauntlets and boots be permitted in the Sports Festival. "What are friends for, right?"

* * *

The day of the Sports Festival dawned too damn early, in Hitoshi's opinion. Granted, he'd have said that if it started at six in the evening, but hell if it was going to stop him from griping. As he'd told his friends on plenty of occasions, there was nothing at all he couldn't gripe about, given half a chance.

He sat near the door, with his back against the wall, head tipped back and eyes closed, trying to muster the motivation to even go and get a coffee before the games started. Just as he was ready to roll his neck forward and get to his feet, he was interrupted.

"Shinsou."

The room's muttering had fallen silent when Todoroki uncharacteristically spoke up, and it was clear their focus was on the confrontation that was apparently taking place. Cracking his eyes, Hitoshi found Todoroki's mismatched gaze fixed cooly on him. He raised an eyebrow to show he was listening.

"Objectively speaking, I think I'm stronger than you," Todoroki told him bluntly, and Hitoshi's other eyebrow shot up as well. "I'm more capable. I've trained longer and harder. But Aizawa-sensei has his eyes on you, doesn't he?"

Hitoshi didn't move or react, though he knew his eyebrows were still near his hairline.

"I have no intention of prying into the reasons for that," Todoroki went on. "But I wanted to let you know, I will beat you today."

"Ooooh, is that a declaration of war?" Kaminari asked, throwing himself into the seat next to Hitoshi to look up at Todoroki as well.

"Idiot!" Bakugou growled, stomping up on Todoroki's other side. "Who cares if Aizawa likes him — why are you looking at that extra?!" He clenched a fist around an explosion like a small firecracker. "Your declaration of war was to the wrong person!"

Before the rant could continue though, Hitoshi cracked and started laughing. Everyone's attention swiveled to him, but he kept his gaze locked with Todoroki's. "Bakugou's right. Your declaration of war _was_ to the wrong person. I'm going out there to do my best, just like everyone here, but I'm not the one you should be trying to measure up to." He smirked. "Just watch, I can promise you now, the highest I'm likely to reach is third place."

Bakugou sneered. "I thought you at least had the guts to aim for the top, Eyebags."

"Your words can't hurt me, these eyebags are Gucci," Hitoshi shot back, and Kaminari choked on his laughter. "And clearly you're missing my point. I'm not putting myself down. I'm telling you there's another competitor you should be focusing on if you want to go up against the best. Someone that far more people than just Aizawa-sensei have their eyes on. That's who _my_ money is on to take first place."

"And who would that be?" Todoroki asked. His tone was still cool, but his words seemed more polite now, at least. "I consider you one of the more impressive in this class. Who is it that you hold in such high regard?"

Hitoshi let his smile crawl wider across his face, and knew from the whispers between Sero and Ashido that he looked at least a little like Aizawa. "You'll see him soon enough. I think he's got something to say to all of us."

* * *

"Pipe down!" called their referee, the 18+ Only Hero, Midnight. "Your freshman student representative is going to give this Sports Festival's commencement speech and the athlete's oath! From Class 1-C, Midoriya Izuku!"

There was a great deal of muttering, not just from the assembled students but from the crowd, at hearing that the student representative was not from the hero course. As Hitoshi had pointed out, this was almost always the case, and no one could remember any instance of an exception before now.

As Izuku made his way up to the stage, he was well aware that he didn't look all that impressive. He was wearing Mei's equipment, but the long sleeves of his PE uniform mostly hid the bracers and boots. The wooden platform clunked under the weight of his boots, and the negligible few centimeters they added to his height actually helped a lot as he squared his shoulders and accepted his place at the microphone.

He wasn't sure what to do with his hands as he looked out over the assembled students, trying not to flinch at Bakugou's incredulous glare, or the cold assessing stare of the red-and-white haired boy a little ways away. Instead, he looked at his friends — at Uraraka, who was grinning and bouncing on the spot happily; at Hagakure, who gave him a V For Victory; at Kirishima, who bared his sharklike teeth and punched a fist into his hand in challenge; at Tokoyami, who met his gaze and inclined his head solemnly; at Hitoshi, who gave a lopsided smirk and mouthed 'give 'em hell'.

He raised his head and looked at the commentator's box, where Present Mic and Eraserhead were playing caster and commentator respectively.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned in slightly to speak into the microphone.

" _In the name of all we competitors, I promise that we shall take part in this UA Sports Festival, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, committing ourselves to a fair challenge, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of our classes and the honor of our school,_ " Izuku recited.

"That's the oath we take here today as competing student-athletes. But all of us here have higher ambitions than that, too. Whether that's to be heroes, or inventors, or salarypeople, we're stepping out of the shadows of previous generation and aiming for the top."

He raised a hand to point at the teachers' private box, just below the commentators. "You've shown us the path to walk, but…" he gestured widely to encompass all the students. " _We're next._ "

And despite what Mei had reassured him, that nobody would remember his speech, it was still met with applause and cheers, and it was still recorded and broadcast on live television.

In the face of all that attention, no matter how much Izuku wanted to hunch his shoulders and duck his head and hide behind his fringe, there was only one thing he could really do in the moment.

He looked at the nearest camera he could find.

And he smiled.

* * *

"Great Scott," Hitoshi muttered, still smirking up at his best friend as he wrapped the whole crowd around his little finger. "And he still thinks he's nothing special. Help us all, if that smile isn't the second coming of All Might." He didn't see Todoroki's eyes narrow, just behind him.

Hagakure, nearby, giggled and shushed Hitoshi as Midnight stepped forward once more.

"Thank you, Midoriya Izuku!" the teacher called. "Now, without further ado, your first event for this year's UA Sports Festival will be… an obstacle race!"

The jumbotron screen behind her lit up outlining the course.

"This is a 5 kilometer course around the outside of the stadium, a race between all eleven classes! I'm sure you passed by at least some of the obstacles on your way in here, but don't worry, we'll be bringing you live coverage of the whole thing! Racers, you know our school preaches freedom in all things, so as long as you stay on the course and hit every checkpoint along the way…" Midnight paused to lick her lips sensually, playing her image to the hilt, "Go _wild_!"

The gate behind them opened and a horn blasted, signalling the race was starting immediately.

"Jeez, this school," Hitoshi grumbled, moving with the crowd so as not to get trampled. "They call this 'Plus Ultra'? I say they're just being extra…"

* * *

" _YEAHHHHHH, AND THEY'RE OFF!_ " Present Mic's voice echoed so loudly it was impossible to tell if he was using a speaker system or just his quirk. " _I'm here with Class A's homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta, to provide some color commentary while I do the casting! Our Obstacle Race is a little expanded compared to the last time we saw this event, and I can promise it's MORE TREACHEROUS THAN EVER! Let's see how it goes!_ "

* * *

Hitoshi managed to squeeze through ahead of most of the pack. He saw Izuku just ahead of him, and set a steady cross-country pace to keep the same distance behind his friend, deciding to see how Izuku tackled the obstacles in their way. Glancing back, he saw Todoroki preceding most of the rest of 1-A out the gate.

The two-toned boy met his eyes, glanced past him at Izuku, then looked back at Hitoshi.

Hitoshi smirked.

Nodding in understanding, Todoroki stamped his right foot, and ice erupted behind him, spreading rapidly and freezing most of their competitors to the ground.

The ice spread more the further away it got, so most of Class A was able to jump away from the worst of it.

"Cheap shot, Todoroki-san!" yelled Jirou, using her the vibrations from her Earphone Jacks to shatter the ice that had started creeping around her ankles.

"Not again!" Tokage cried, and Hitoshi remembered she'd been frozen to the ground by Todoroki during their first combat class.

Sero shot tape to the ceiling and used the leverage to pull himself free; Ashido melted the ice (and her own shoes) with judicious application of her acid; Kirishima and Bakugou blasted through with brute strength and explosions; and soon the Heroics course had left most of the other competitors behind. None of them knew how many slots would be available for the second round, after all, and general expectation was for the Heroics students to take up 40 of them.

Looking forward again, Hitoshi met Izuku's eyes, and a silent understanding passed between them. They both ducked their heads and continued running steadily as Todoroki gained on them, making no effort to specifically keep the lead this early. Just behind him, the faster students from Class A (Iida, Bakugou, Ashido, and Tsunotori) were jockeying for position with several people he vaguely recognized from Class B, like a guy with a large tail and the tall, beastly boy Hitoshi had considered Brainwashing back in the Entrance Exam before settling on Kaminari.

Hitoshi was maintaining his spot about five meters behind Izuku, and Todoroki less than two meters behind Hitoshi, when the ground suddenly trembled and they encountered the second obstacle.

Larger versions of the villain-robots from the Entrance Exam.

* * *

" _UH OH!_ " came the commentary. " _Our racers had better keep on their toes, this is an OBSTACLE race, after all! Those of you who took the Hero Course Entrance Exam might recognize these bad boys, but there's no points to be had in defeating them this time! They're solely here to slow you down, so how will each of our contestants handle the challenge!?_ "

* * *

"Ah, man, not these things again!" Izuku cried, though he didn't break stride. Hitoshi was close behind him, as was that kid with the ice quirk. The latter didn't seem to have any hesitation with throwing around power, so Izuku would have to be careful not to get frozen himself. Especially since he could feel the surrounding temperature dropping, and he had a feeling he knew what was coming.

Izuku dug in his heels and flung himself to the side at the last moment, sensing more than hearing Hitoshi doing the same in the opposite direction, just as a tremendous wall of ice claimed the enormous zero-pointer in front. Tumbling and rolling to keep his momentum, Izuku came back to his feet and kept running, having lost only a few meters distance when he glanced back. He glanced sideways just before reaching the robot and found the two-toned boy eyeing him back. He nodded, and then they passed to either side of the robot's leg, breaking their staring contest.

Resisting the urge to speed up, Izuku kept his pace steady. As he passed out from under the zero-pointer, he heard it beginning to tip, and mentally wished the other racers behind him the best of luck.

The red-and-white haired boy had pulled ahead by now, and was continuing to freeze any of the robots that came near him, leaving them to crash to the ground and block the path forward. Izuku threw himself into a baseball slide, exactly as he'd done during the Entrance Exam, and passed under a two-pointer just before it toppled. Bounding back to his feet, he jumped and planted a hand to vault the already-collapsed one-pointer behind it, exercising his well-practiced parkour skills to avoid losing speed as he continued.

On the last one, he decided to take a chance, since the surface was iced. He leapt up and twisted in midair to land on the frozen surface on his back, where his momentum carried him along while he took stock of the situation behind him.

Hicchan was taking a longer route to avoid the fallen robots, but he hadn't fallen back more than a few places. Most of the other Heroics students he could see, though, were taking more direct routes. Tokoyami-kun and the guy with the tape quirk had launched themselves over the first fallen zero-pointer with enough momentum to pass most of the others, and Bakugou was still in the air, blasting his way clear over the obstacles with his eyes on the back of the two-toned boy now in first.

He also saw Asui clambering around the side of one of the fallen robots, Uraraka floating some out of her way only to drop it behind her in the path of those trying to slip past her, and Hatsume blasting along on hover boots and a replica of the Buster Hero, Air Jet's jetpack.

Grinning, flipped over and slapped his hands down on the edge of the robot he'd slid over, getting his feet back under him to try to minimize the distance between himself and Ice Quirk before the next obstacle.

* * *

" _Here they come, folks!_ " Present Mic's voice blared through the speakers and reverberated as Izuku slowly closed on first place. " _Our race leaders have made it two kilometers along the way, but the middle of this race might must be the trickiest! The whole third klick of this obstacle course… HAS NO FLOOR!_ "

* * *

Izuku skidded to a halt just beside Ice Quirk, who had paused at the next obstacle. Joining him, Izuku could see why. The ground dropped off a good twenty meters, and the signage on the course made it clear that going down into the Pit would mean disqualification.

Instead, there were a number of paths that one could take, including tightropes between safe pillars, rotating platforms like something out of a video game, or a narrow space between two horizontal walls that would require some crazy strength to spider-climb or wall-kick along. The paths seemed to converge again, about half a kilometer through, but Izuku supposed he'd have to get there first.

He closed his eyes to brace himself and took a quick breath, then opened them to find that Ice Quirk was already skating along one of the tightropes. "Ah!"

Knowing Kacchan was likely to blast across the tightropes as well, Izuku instead opted for the moving platforms.

Each was moving in a different pattern, making it difficult for even Izuku's analytical mind to find an immediate path across. Some of them turned like records, while others flipped over slowly, trying to dump off anyone who landed on them. Yet others spun permanently at an angle, so he would have to jump and catch it while it was facing him, then wait until it turned toward the next spot to jump away.

Given the timing challenge, it seemed to be a slightly shorter route than the tightropes, but even so, Izuku caught glimpses of some of the other racers as he paused here and there in his wild leapfrogging.

Asui, ironically, was using the tightropes, since she was able to balance easily on her hands and feet. Hatsume continued to jet along with her support equipment, though she was mostly skidding along the ropes rather than flying clear over, so she must be worried about running out of power. Bakugou, predictably, was rocket-jumping from pillar to pillar in the tightrope section.

Hitoshi was about a hundred meters behind Izuku on the platforms, since he was also unable to rely on his quirk for this and had to complete the challenges physically. There were a few others behind him, but most seemed to have opted for the longer path along tightropes since it was easier to catch yourself if you fell.

The shortest path of all, of course, was right down the middle between the narrow walls, and a handful of students were taking a crack at that. The guy with tape arms was darting along by sticking to each wall in turn, while Uraraka was floating herself down the hallway, looking green in the face as she fought the nausea that came from using her quirk on herself.

* * *

" _Halfway done with the Pit means halfway done with the race!_ " the announcer's voice roared, before Aizawa's calmer commentary took over.

" _Midoriya from Class C has dropped back to third place, overtaken by Bakugou from Class A, who is now hot on Todoroki's heels. But Bakugou's advantage might be nullified for this section, because there's no flying allowed. This is a test of strength and endurance._ "

Present Mic yelled over him, revving the crowd up. " _That's right, you have to pick one of the three paths and dangle precariously over the Pit — one slip and it's allllllll over!_ "

* * *

With one final leap, Izuku landed on the halfway platform, and saw that for the second half of the Pit, there were no platforms at all. Instead, there were again multiple paths, this time with only hanging challenges — there were monkey bars along the long path, while the middle path would involve hanging from logs and upside-down tables. The shortest path this time involved the rotating platforms. This time they spun on wheels in different directions, so it would be necessary to time swings from one to the next, and missing the swing would mean waiting another full rotation to try again.

In a glance, he saw Ice Quirk was halfway across the monkey bars, with Kacchan only a dozen meters behind him, skipping bars furiously but unable to blast his way across because the rules required using at least one of the paths. He also couldn't go as fast as he wanted, Izuku bet, because of the way his quirk functioned — he sweat profusely out his hands to use Explosion, but that might also make him slip if he rushed too much on the monkey bars.

Still, if he was going to keep up, Izuku would have to take the shortest route this time, on the rotating handles. Taking a jump, he caught the first one and thanked Mei's gloves for keeping his wrists from getting wrenched too badly. As he came around, he swing and snatched the second one, conveniently spinning the opposite direction. The third, though, was turning the same way, which meant his momentum was going to switch when he jumped.

Squeezing tightly, he swung his legs up too, and hooked them through the ring to give himself the extra leverage as he took his time before the leap to the fourth.

The moment's rest again showed him the others' creativity with their quirks in surpassing the obstacles. Tape Arms was sticking his way along the middle path, swinging across the logs and hanging platforms as easily as a rope set in gym class. A girl with an upward ponytail had somehow acquired a pulley-wheel with a handle she could hold on to, hanging it from one of the support bars and sliding down the monkey bar path without needing the actual bars.

Coming around again, he saw Hicchan and Hagakure's gloves coming along the rotating rings behind him. He grinned, unhooked his legs, and swung on.

This time, at the end, there was no level platform to land on. Instead, there was a slope with a sign at the top reading **Land past here and slide!**

* * *

" _At the end of the Pit is a long slide,_ Aizawa explained for the crowd's benefit. " _It's a hundred meters long, descending to the same twenty-meter depth as the Pit, and narrows as it goes to a mere one-point-five meters across. The slide is nearly frictionless, so the racers are unlikely to keep their feet, but there are bumps and poles to slow them down as they aim for that funnel._ "

" _Just like pachinko!_ " Present Mic cackled. " _After that, it's a simple enough footrace, but in these narrow confines, passing will be a challenge in itself! That'll have to do for drama until they reach the Final Obstacle, listeners!_ "

* * *

Izuku's feet slipped out from under him as soon as he landed, but he had fairly good momentum, so he thought he still stood a chance. Internally thanking Mei once again, he used his bracers to rudder himself as best he could by slowing on one side or the other to steer around the obstacles on the slide.

Kacchan was using his explosions to maneuver, while Ice Quirk was keeping his lead by using his ice to reduce his friction even more, and making small ice walls to slalom around the poles in his way. Being far to Izuku's left, he couldn't make use of most of them, but he did edge that way to take advantage of the outside of one of the ice slopes, slipping onto Ice Quirk's path since the ice didn't end at the narrow opening to the canyon path. He had kept making ice as long as he was sliding, so Izuku let his momentum carry him the same way. If he'd tried to stop at the bottom of the slide, he'd now be trying to run on an iced-over path.

Leaning back, he saw the girl with the ponytail had encountered exactly that problem, though she was strapping on ice skates she'd pulled from somewhere, so apparently she had a handle on things. Hatsume was a little way up the slide, slowing her descent with her jetpack and clicking her boots together to extend crampons from the bottom. Hitoshi was sliding down side-by-side with Tokoyami, and even as he watched, Tokoyami's quirk wrapped around both of them to slip around an obstacle. A temporary truce, then. Well, what else were friends for?

Feeling his mouth stretch in a grin even without conscious decision, Izuku snapped his head to look forward once more and saw the ice path was ending. Curling his feet over his head even as he slid, he kipped up and landed on the concrete already sprinting. They were nearing the home stretch now, and he needed to catch up to Kacchan and Ice Quirk now if at all possible.

(He also really needed to get the names of everybody in Class A. He wanted to join that class, after all, and he wasn't Kacchan who considered learning other people's names beneath his effort.)

The canyon track wound and switched back, and twice Izuku had to jump and kick off the walls to avoid losing too much speed when a corner was too sharp. He honestly counted himself grateful he was out near the front and not caught in a pack, because the narrow confines would make this a nightmare. Unfortunately, he also couldn't see the racers ahead of him, though he could hear Kacchan's explosions.

Finally, he rounded one last corner and saw their final challenge.

* * *

" _There you have it, folks, the final obstacle: The Wall! It may look like an ordinary rock-climbing wall, but don't be fooled! Different sections of it have different grips, different angles, and different hazards! Will your handhold spin on you or break away? Will you trigger a rockslide, or a volcano eruption? Can you make it to the top and sprint the last hundred meters? LET'S FIND OUT!"_

* * *

Kacchan had finally taken the lead. Izuku guessed he had blast-jumped over Ice Quirk's head and landed on the wall as high as he could, because he was already about a third of the way up. Ice Quirk was maybe five meters below him, and making the path he'd taken unfollowable thanks to the frost riming half the handholds he'd taken. Thankfully, the path narrowed to allow the climbing wall to be a good five meters wide, so Izuku darted for a different section and started scrambling up as fast as he could.

His parkour practice wasn't quite suited for bouldering, but he definitely thought he was having an easier time than the other two. His chosen path was mostly vertical, with one or two slight overhangs that Kacchan and Ice Quirk had avoided. Of course, there were also the other dangers that Present Mic had mentioned…

No sooner had he thought it than Ice Quirk, only a meter above Izuku now, put his left hand on a peg to lift himself higher, and the peg fell right out of the wall under his hand. However, he froze his right hand to the grip it was on, even as his feet slipped with the sudden shifting of his balance, and left him dangling only by the frozen hand.

"Are you all right?" Izuku called, traversing along the wall sideways and bracing himself to put a hand against Ice Quirk's back.

Using the leverage, Ice Quirk quickly reset his feet, and turned surprised eyes on Izuku. "Why did you help?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Izuku shrugged as best he could, transitioning to an upward climbing motion again. "We're competing here, but we still both want to be heroes, right? Besides," he grunted and lunged for a handhold that was just out of his reach, pulling himself a full meter ahead of Ice Quirk now. "You're still frozen in place!"

Despite the showiness of that dynamic movement, Izuku contented himself with mostly static climbing, keeping at least three points of contact with the wall and checking each handhold before committing his weight to it. Kacchan was already only a few meters from the top, while Izuku was barely halfway, and he'd rather place high than fall back to the bottom.

Glancing down as he reached a low-angle section near the top of the wall, Izuku found most of the rest of the race bunched up in the first few meters, either jockeying for space or waiting their turn. Hitoshi was about halfway up, narrowly behind Tape Arms, who was alternating his tape lines to hoist himself up like climbing ropes instead of using the grips. Both of them had to traverse rapidly to the side as Tape Arms triggered another trap — rather than just a peg falling out, a whole section of wall collapsed, and Tape Arms had to quickly throw out another line. Out from the fallen segment oozed a viscous liquid, colored red and according to Present Mic supposedly 'lava', though it was clearly just some sort of ooze meant to present a hazard.

Uraraka was just behind Hitoshi, resting on a low-angle section like Izuku and clearly fighting down nausea, while Asui clambered easily over a nearly-horizontal overhang that Izuku had skipped. A very large hand gripped the whole overhang just after Asui passed it, and another girl with bright orange hair dragged herself up, before hurriedly having to look for another route before the 'lava' could sweep her away.

Izuku couldn't spare any longer to look, though, because Ice Quirk was closing in on him again, and with one last explosive leap, Izuku managed to hook his fingertips over the top of the wall. Mantling upward, he staggered for a moment before breaking back into a jog.

"I did it," he whispered to himself as he ran through the tunnel and across the finish line back into the stadium. "I… I am here." It wasn't loud enough for anyone but himself to hear, but there was always next time. Either way, he'd managed to make a good showing.

"That's Midoriya Izuku from Class C in second place, less than ten seconds behind Bakugou Katsuki! And only three seconds later, here's Class A's Todoroki Shouto in third!"

Izuku looked around. Ah, it was Ice Quirk. He finally had a name to go with the handsome face and two-toned hair. Although, that name sounded familiar…

"And here come a bunch more from Class A! Fourth, it's Sero Hanta! Fifth, Asui Tsuyu! Sixth, Kendou Itsuka! Seventh, Class B's Shouji Mezou! Eighth, Class A's Shinsou Hitoshi! Ninth, Class H's Hatsume Mei! And rounding out the top ten, it's Class A's Yaoyorozu Momo!"

He shared a grin and a fistbump with Hitoshi, and his smile only widened at Bakugou's incredulous glare that Izuku had gotten in ahead of Todoroki, the one Bakugou had been competing with all along. Todoroki was watching him, too, though without anger. Rather he was looking at Izuku like a puzzle he couldn't figure out.

He was trying to decide if he should say something when Hitoshi slung an arm around his shoulders and dragged him over to greet the rest of their friends, and Izuku decided to let it go. He could talk to Todoroki whenever; right now he needed to celebrate their whole chat group making it in the top twenty!

Because if not for celebrating together, what were friends for?

" _I hope everybody's looking forward to our nnnnnext event!_ " Present Mic called over the crowd's cheers. " _Just as soon as our competitors get themselves some water, it's time to plaaaaaaay… DOOODGEBALLLLL!_ "

* * *

 **A/N: So I reread** ** _Burn Your Wings_** **between the last chapter and this one, and I'm pretty sure that influenced the commencement speech that I otherwise pulled out of my ass, but I can't pretend I'm sorry about it. The USJ Attack hasn't happened in this continuity, so there's no commentary from Aizawa and Yamada about how amazing Class A is — these kids are all on more or less an even playing field right now.**

 **Don't worry. Their baptism by fire is coming.**

 **Somewhat of a retcon; I don't know if it's brought up in canon at all but Mei is from Kyoto, so I've given her an approximation of a Kansai-ben accent when she's in the workshop and not focused on her pronunciation for school. Since this is written in English (and I'm not Japanese) I'm sure I'm missing some subtleties (like how Mei's personality would probably fit Osaka stereotypes better than Kyoto), but Mei is brash and rowdy enough that I think she would in general talk faster and less precisely in her own workshop.**

 **I was expecting to knock out the whole Sports Festival, but here we are at well over 7k words with only one event down. Ah well, wouldn't want the story to feel too rushed just because I'm excited about ideas to come. You'll also notice I extended the obstacle course a little bit, to hopefully avoid this station of the canon getting too stale too quickly. The 'rotating platforms' over the Pit could be something out of Tick Tock Clock in Super Mario 64, while the ones in the hanging section are more or less the 'Spin Cycle' from Ninja Warrior. (I just wasn't sure how else to describe them.) I even managed to end it on a Percy Jackson climbing wall, complete with 'lava', so that was fun.**

 **I know I'm nerfing Bakugou's quirk a little bit, but in canon he can basically** ** _fly_** **with no apparent limit? Come the hell on; I've studied physics and that's not how impulse works. So, in this fic, what Bakugou does is basically rocket-jumping. He can blast off well, and maneuver a little in midair depending on his inertia, but he can't sweat fast enough to clear the sixty-foot climbing wall in one go. That's dumb.**

 **Maybe one day TVTropes-senpai will notice me. Or I'll come up with some actually iconic scenes that might inspire some fanart, that would be dope. In all actual seriousness, thank you all for joining me on this ride so far; if you like it, feel free to pop into Discord and let me know!**

Chat Names Cheat Sheet  
Izuku = small might, kokiri boi  
Shinsou = catnap, mindfreak  
Uraraka = durararaka!  
Kirishima = Hardly Noticeable, Riot in Red  
Hagakure = SueStormStan, who ya gonna call?  
Tokoyami = G-note, Bury Me In Black, Edgar Allan Hoe, Desolation Row


End file.
